Handcuffed by Her Hero Read Online Free Page A

going to trap her, or do anything she didn’t want, or make
her feel—
    Supremely unnerved. And more than
a little terrified.
    Her mouth went dry as he tugged
at the waistband of her sweats. They came down easily for him, making her
wonder just how many times he’d performed the move. He made her panties follow
with even more practiced speed, coming off in his grip with a trio of soft thwicks .
 
    Rayna pressed her lips together
as the cool air brushed her naked skin. For every slick move he pulled, her
body broke out in mortified goose bumps—though she’d spill her savings account
before revealing this was the first time she’d ever been bare like this for a
man’s gaze. She wasn’t a prude. Virginity and she had parted ways the summer
after she’d graduated from high school, but it had happened in a pitch-dark
room. That was just fine for a girl who’d grown up fighting off her brothers so
much, she often had better muscles than her lovers. She’d fast made friends
with the shadows when it came to sex.
    There were no shadows now.
    But this also had nothing to do
with sex. Not a damn thing. Not a thing. Not a thing. Not a thing.
    She timed the mantra with every
frantic breath that left her as Zeke set her clothes aside, then turned back
and settled his weight between her legs again. She braced herself for what he’d
do next. For the push against her legs, the vulnerability of her body, the humiliation
of his gaze on her disgrace. The way he’d prod at the piercing, reminding her
that a part of her ordeal would never leave her. That the nightmare would never
really go away.
    He lowered his fingers to her
skin. Against her hips.
    Bewilderment dragged her eyes
open. Again, the man’s size made him take up most of her view, but Rayna’s
focus was seized by more than that. In the last minute, his face had changed
again. The hungry puma was gone. The protective grizzly wasn’t back yet,
either. But what she stared at now wasn’t another beast. He was all man. A man
who took her in with a gaze like heat beneath coals, instead of his typical sparks
and intensity. A man with a full-lipped mouth that seemed finally at rest,
instead of the quirks that obeyed the slightest changes of his temperament. A
man who slid just the pads of his fingers along her skin, slowly and
reverently, almost like a kid learning a new texture.
    “You’re
beautiful, you know.” He traced her hipbones with his thumbs.
    Rayna snuck her
tongue out to re-wet her lips. Beautiful? He was tossing that out to describe her when he looked at her like this, touched her like this? “Th-thank you.”
    She finished
that with a deep gulp. To her shock, Z matched the action. He paused his hands.
His head rotated, face intense as he glanced to her sweats and panties. He
blinked as if realizing what he’d just done…and was silently admitting that
this might not be a good idea, after all.
    She needed to
listen to that instinct, too. This was her opportunity. She could roll away
right now. Z would probably let her. They’d laugh awkwardly, and this moment
would officially be in their past. They could go back to standing on opposite
sides of the bridge that connected them, enjoying the view while safe on their
respective shores and traveling across from time to time for visits…but never
touching in the middle. Never throwing off the balance. Him: Dominant. Her:
never going there. Yes, balance was good. Balance was necessary.
    Zeke moved his
hands again. Into the crevices where her thighs joined her torso.
    Buh-bye,
opportunity.
    She twisted her
hands into the sheets as her heartbeat set up camp in her throat. Zeke moved
his hands down and pushed at the insides of her legs. She clenched in resistance.
    “I’m only going
to look, Rayna.” His voice was so intimate she doubted someone standing at the
door would be able to hear it. “I promise…if it hurts, I’ll stop.”
    She swept her
stare up to his face. He waited with those banked embers in his