Forever Lost: Becoming Elena - Book Two Read Online Free Page A

pain away. Not now, not tomorrow. She truly was on her own. When her breath rushed in as her lips parted, she realized she’d been holding it.
    Oxygen flooded her brain, and she had to fight the panic wanting to overwhelm her. It did her no good. She had to focus, had to figure out what came next.
    But the spinning wouldn’t stop long enough for her to do that.
    Maybe it was time to go. She couldn’t watch the film. The couple frolicking on the beach was too much for her fragile mind. She didn’t stand more than a few inches before she felt the presence next to her. The instant awareness filtering through her left no doubt at all who it was.
    Dalton.
    How had he found her? As soon as she had the thought, she pushed it away. Of course he’d found her. She’d thought she was escaping, but there was no escape with him. Whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it — it was his.
    Without permission, Elena found herself sitting back down, her will to leave suddenly taken from her. Even though she wanted to leave, more of her wanted to stay. Everything wrong about the situation rushed through her brain, but it didn’t matter.
    Still, she stayed.
    No!
    She wasn’t this person, wasn’t this woman to be controlled. Maybe she didn’t know exactly who she was, but certainly she was better than a robot. She began to rise again.
    “Don’t.”
    His voice was barely loud enough to move across the short space between the two of them and yet that one utterance was enough to make her fall back into her chair as she gripped the arms.
    Still she hadn’t looked at him yet.
    The force of his gaze compelled her to turn, and she found him looking at her, his eyes fierce as he gazed back. Elena was instantly falling again, but this time it was right into his spell.
    And the man knew it.
    Elena wanted to say something, but she couldn’t speak as he leaned closer to her, his hot breath grazing her throat as his hand came down and rested on her thigh. Instant heat pushed away her stress, pushed away the impending doom she’d been feeling.
    Suddenly her only thoughts were of Dalton and what Dalton was able to do, to take away her mental anguish. All feeling in her body was centered in one area, not too far from where his fingers rested so casually — yet so damn possessive.
    Elena’s fingers tightened on the arm rests as she tried her hardest not to react to Dalton, or at least to not show him the reaction she couldn’t help but feel.
    Without looking, she felt him lean closer, his fingers tightening on her leg. His hot breath lingered on her ear as his lips brushed so lightly against the edge, she wasn’t positive he’d actually touched her.
    “Where are you running to, Elena?”
    So many answers filtered through Elena’s mind at the question. The answer that was most prevalent was hell. She was running straight to hell. And Dalton was right on her heels, giving her no way to escape.
    “It doesn’t matter,” she told him. She tried to keep her voice as neutral as his. She didn’t exactly pull it off.
    “I think it matters very much,” he replied, that bit of confidence in his tone that made her more attracted to him. She hated herself for it.
    Slowly, his fingers stirred on her leg, and even through the fabric of her cotton pants, she could feel the burn as he made his way up her thigh. He wasn’t in a hurry, but she was aware of every fraction of an inch that drew him closer to her hot center.
    “I hate that you think you can say whatever you want to me. And I hate even more that you think you can do whatever you want,” she said through gritted teeth.
    She was still gripping the arm rests, not stopping him as he lazily rubbed along her leg, not touching her center, but moving closer and then backing away again.
    “If you hated it, you wouldn’t still be sitting here,” he told her.
    “You need to stop,” she said. Deciding it was time to go, she started to rise.
    Without a word, he applied pressure to her leg, not a