On the Way Home Read Online Free Page A

drained from his eyes, leaving only a piercing intensity that seemed to see right through me.
    I shifted in my seat and looked away. Point one for soldier boy.
    “Did you always want to fly?” he asked softly.
    A knot formed in my throat, and I swallowed around it. Point two. I may not come out the winner in this match. But then, that was the point, wasn’t it? Dmitri thought I was going to die on the mission he’d given me. Maybe so, but I’d go down fighting.
    “Yeah,” I said, just as quietly. “I always wanted to get away. No one can touch you in the sky, right?”
    He caught the steel in my voice. His eyes sharpened into blades; they cut me open. I bled onto the steering wheel, all over the console beside me. All the while thinking touch me, touch me, touch me. A lifetime of bartering with my body had left me broken inside, unable to tell the difference between lust and affection. Or maybe I could always tell the difference. That was why it hurt so damn much.
    A knock on the window startled me. I let out a small shriek, then blushed, embarrassed. Warmth covered my hand, and I looked down to see his larger hand over mine. Comforting me.
    Drawing in a breath, I pulled away. There would be time enough for that. He’d touch me plenty more places before we were through. Every one outside my body, but nowhere inside me. I wouldn’t let him touch me there. I paid for the food and rolled my window up. The business of brown paper wrapping and straws were the distraction I needed to pull myself together.
    * * *
    We got back on the road quickly. I watched with some fascination as he scarfed down the burgers, the sight of his throat swallowing strangely compelling. Or maybe not so strangely. I knew my tastes in men ran to the perverse. But I was used to dealing with smaller men, ones with slender hands and hips. The kind I could lock between my legs until he convinced me to let him go.
    Clint would be nothing like that. He had enough power in his pinky finger to level me. And the thought of all that power being wiped away… My stomach turned over.
    But it wasn’t a guarantee he would die. He could defend himself—better than I ever could. And I was well-accustomed to do-or-die situations.
    As in, I did what Dmitri said or my sister died.
    “You want one?” Clint held up a foil-wrapped burger.
    Shaking my head, I put the truck in gear. “No, thanks.”
    “Are you sure? A big girl like you needs nourishment.” His low voice was teasing, and despite myself, I smiled. We both knew he outweighed me by a hundred pounds, but the low tenor of his voice when he called me a big girl told me he wasn’t talking about my size. He was talking about sex. But playfully. Without the hint of coercion I was used to. Damn.
    And did he have to be so cute? I didn’t want to find him adorable. I didn’t want to like him at all. This would be so much easier if he were a sleazeball like Dmitri.
    My phone buzzed in my purse, and I pulled it out.
    Well?
    One word and my heart plummeted. Dmitri. He wanted to know if I’d gotten the man named Clint Adams, the one who’d been sitting in seat 34B. Uh, yeah, I had him, but Dmitri had neglected to mention that man would be in combat gear. Clearly he was in one of the military branches, which made him extra dangerous. It also meant he served his country, and I had a lot of respect for that.
    Enough respect to let my sister die?
    I texted back one-handed at a red light. Working on it.
    Because I didn’t have this all worked out. In a few minutes we’d arrive at his house, where his girlfriend would no doubt be. Not a very good girlfriend, I thought with some disgust, since she hadn’t bothered to come pick him up. But I could hardly be jealous, considering. At least she wasn’t going to get him killed.
    “You okay?” he murmured.
    “Yeah, sure.”
    “Because you seem a little… agitated.”
    I glanced down and realize I’d been gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles were