Full Exposure: A Loveswept Contemporary Erotic Romance Read Online Free

complete transformation from cool and composed to trembly and terrified—to be annoyed. From the second he’d laid eyes on Serena he’d wanted to see her with her control shattered. But he’d never envisioned it happening like this. He reached out a hand and found hers in the darkness, astounded at how quickly she had turned cold and clammy.
    “My choice,” she said in little more than a whisper. “I choose to go into that room, dark or no. And I have control of the light switch. Nobody else.” Her trembling suddenly increased and he couldn’t resist pulling her into his arms.
    “Kevin,” she said, hands once again pushing against him. “I don’t want to do this right now. I can’t—”
    “I’m not asking you to do anything. But you’re shaky, freezing. Let me hold you for a minute.”
    Her spine suddenly stiffened and her voice dripped ice as she answered. “I’m not a child to be comforted. I simply would rather wait until the lights came back on before …” Her voice trailed off.
    “Before what?” He pulled her back into his arms, ignoring her slight resistance, ignoring his own need to give in to her.
    “You know what.” She held herself rigid against him, unable to take the comfort he so freely offered.
    Settling himself against the wall, Kevin pulled her into his lap before she could protest. “Sssh.” One hand reached up to stroke her short hair, the other rubbed her slender back soothingly as he murmured nonsense to her.
    Against her will, Serena relaxed into him. He felt safe, made
her
feel safe and secure. It had been so long since she’d felt this way that it took her a minute to recognize the feeling.
    Seventeen. The thought echoed through her. She’d been seventeen the last time she’d felt this safe. At the time she’d thought she had everything she’d ever want—guaranteed entrance into one of the best photography programs in the country, a boyfriend she adored, and the best twin sister in the world. But that was before Damien, with his good looks and insane jealousies. Before she’d known what it felt like to have a blade sink deep into her flesh. Before she’d heard her sister die.
    Stifling the whimper that wanted to escape, Serena cursed herself. It wasn’t like her to lose control like this, to curl up on a man’s lap and let him soothe her like a baby. She never needed comforting, had refused to need it for more than a decade. So why was she cowering on Kevin’s lap just because the lights were out?
    She started to move, to push away again, but Kevin held her in place. And she lethim without knowing why. She could have struggled, could have demanded her freedom. But it felt right sitting here, letting him hold her. When the lights came on, Serena knew she’d be embarrassed that he’d seen her this way. But for now, as fear stalked her and darkness fenced her in, she was content, if not happy, to stay exactly where she was.
    Her heartbeat slowly returned to normal and her breathing leveled out, but Kevin continued to rock, continued to soothe without ever saying a word. Without thought, her arms crept around his waist, her cheek pressing against his bare chest as she listened to the slow and steady beat of his heart.
    Despite the heat of the past few minutes there was nothing sexual in his touch, nothing passionate in hers. Yet, leaning against him in the dark, letting him support her, she recognized a small and sudden rekindling of the fire that had burned so brightly within her earlier. Who would have thought the fearsome, awe-inspiring Kevin Riley could be so … kind?
    They sat in the darkness for a long time, holding each other and listening as torrents of rain continued to pelt the house. When Kevin finally spoke, it wasn’t the words she had dreaded hearing, wasn’t the demand for an explanation that he had every right to expect.
    Instead, he heaved a long-suffering sigh. “So tell me about this book thing.” His voice hinted of beignets and chicory and