by Tatum Throne
He followed her hand that brushed her short, golden hair aside. Rylie was still learning about how her empathic abilities worked. She was a latecomer to the game. She always had the ability to read the emotional pathways and auras of others, but her empathic abilities didn’t start until after she stopped taking some medication by mistake six months ago. She didn’t consider herself gifted. She considered herself cursed.
Auras were something she innately understood, like art or a foreign language. Her breathing suddenly slowed. Rylie inexplicably found her body’s energy changing. It then locked and aligned with his.
What she felt was alarming and overpowering. She felt the steady intake of his breath, the sharp excited tempo of his heartbeat, and the seductive desire to claim her burning within his body.
This man was dangerous. He wanted something more than her body. He was willing to do anything to achieve his goal. Whatever that thing was, it drove him here to her.
“Don’t try to stand,” he said. “Not until you’re ready.”
His warm hand stroked her hair away from her face.
A five-o’clock shadow gave him a rakish appearance. There was nothing vicious about the hard corners of his jaw, but Rylie knew he’d been tortured recently. The scars were burning beneath his aura and weighing heavily on his emotional path.
Energy and pain lingered on those hidden scars. Rylie’s fingers itched to touch, to heal the residual pain with the comfort of her ability and her body. His face was fascinating. It held so much hard bitten experience. Upon closer inspection, Rylie discovered that his blue eyes were actually more gray. Had it been a trick of light to catch her attention?
As far as she should’ve been concerned, he was just another tall, dark-haired, handsome man that was helping a woman out of a hard spot. Deep down she knew he wasn’t. This wasn’t any ordinary man.
She didn’t trust him or the way her body was responding to him sexually. He held her in a tempting and possessive way that sent shivers down her skin. Her nipples were taut peeks pressing hard against the thin fabric of her bra. She sat up quickly, and he tightened his hands on her arms.
“Whoa. Easy now. I’m not going to hurt you.”
No, he wouldn’t hurt her without good reason. He didn’t let go. Strong, unyielding arms held her on his lap. She pressed her hands against his muscled chest and felt the searing heat all the way down to her toes.
She’d landed hard on the pavement, but luckily hadn’t hit anything when she went down. She could feel a bruise starting on her hip. He didn’t resist her when she stood onto her shaky legs, using the stranger as balance. Chills raced over Rylie’s arms as his coat slipped from her shoulders.
She edged away to pick up her shirt, hoping he wouldn’t follow. She turned, buttoning it quickly.
A flash of light caught her eye as he slipped on his own shirts, and she saw a shiny silver badge clipped to his leather belt. She recognized it instantly as FBI. She casually slipped back on her coat and headed for the door when he was distracted with his gun. “I’m fine, really. Thank you for helping me.”
She pushed open the restroom door and was on the other side when he cleared his throat. “We need to talk, Rylie.”
She froze. Panic erupted through her soul. How did he know who she was? He followed her through the hallway. “Sorry, but you’ve got the wrong girl.”
“You are Rylie Sawyer. I’ve been following your story for a very long time. Every time I get close, you and the pendant disappear.”
“Not me.”
“I’m not going to let you go until we talk.”
She stepped away. His hand snaked out, grabbing her wrist firmly to keep her there. Rylie’s eyes widened when a fiery, electrical pulse stimulated her skin. It caught a nerve and zinged up her arm. This man was aroused. She licked her lips nervously. He wanted something more than sex. A pang of disappointment slid through her mind when she realized it had nothing to do with her. What would it be like having an alpha male like him all hot and bothered for her and not his objective?
“We need to talk.”
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Special Agent Trey Masters.”
Something tightened seductively between them at the sound of his name. The sensation rippled over her belly. “What do you want?”
“The same thing you do. I want to stop the pendant. I’m here to protect you.”
They stared at each other.
She smiled and would’ve laughed if she thought she’d get away with it. She touched his hand with her free one. “Well, Trey, like I said, you have the wrong girl. I’m not Rylie Sawyer. She your ex or something?”
His hand tightened and so did the lines in his face. He was so done playing games. “Do I need to make a scene?”
“You already are.” She yanked her arm free, and his eyes flared with golden embers.
“You had another vision, didn’t you? What did you see?”
How did he know? “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not who you think I am. You’re confused.”
“I’m not.” He backed her further into a wing under construction. “I know how personal this is. The pendant killed your sister. Your family. It continues to seek you. I can help you. I can free you, Rylie.”
She shivered at the possibility of being free. How did he know so much? Who was this man? She had to get away from him. She backed away, but he merely advanced. He grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her against unfinished drywall.
She felt trapped.
“You can’t do this alone anymore,” Trey said.
“Stop it!”
“I know everything. I know how you found the piece on a independent dig. How you gave it to your sister to wear her wedding day and made her promise to give it back, but she didn’t. She murdered her husband and committed suicide two days later.”
She felt sick inside. “Who are you? What do you want?”
He seemed genuinely sorry for pushing her so hard. He touched her face with his hands. “Rylie, this is what I do. I find people and protect them. I free them. I’m going to help you move on.”
“I don’t need your protection.”
“Yes. You do.”
Could she trust him? She wanted to but she knew she shouldn’t. She couldn’t trust anyone. “You don’t know me or what I need.”
“I know you well enough to know that you’re planning on hunting down that couple and snatching the pendant to keep them alive.”
She was shaking. No one knew her as well as this man did. It frightened her greatly.
“I know it calls to you. It calls to me, too,” he whispered. “You’re not crazy.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. It wasn’t a sign of weakness, but a joining of lives. Finally, she had someone who knew everything. His fingers laced through her hair. His thumbs skimmed her lips. He leaned in closer.
“Trust me, Rylie. I want you to trust me.”
She couldn’t. She had to get away from him. She struggled, and her lips brushed accidentally against his. Heat seared through her body as his firm lips brushed away. He groaned as her body swayed against his. His eyes widened.
“You taste so forbidden. It’s so wrong to want you.”
His mouth crushed over hers in a sensuous and passionate kiss. He instantly took the kiss deep by sliding his tongue past the barrier of her lips. Rylie moaned as her tongue flicked with his. He probed hard, dominating as though he were sexing her pussy. Rylie’s nipples tightened as Trey’s chest rubbed against hers.
It’d been so long since she let any man touch her. She pushed him away hard, but he didn’t go far. He merely broke his lips away from hers. She hated him for kissing her.
Chapter Four
Trey was close. So near that she could smell the scent of his body and taste him upon her lips. Rainwater had seeped into the fibers of his coat. Earth and winter clung to his skin. It reminded her of a time when she wasn’t always on the hunt for the pendant.
He took a deep breath and mumbled an oath under his breath.
“You can’t do this alone. I’ve been hunting for cursed objects for a long time. It’s not safe to work alone. It makes you vulnerable.”
“I don’t need anyone.”
He slammed his hand against the wall, but she didn’t jump. She could feel every inch of his frustration. “Please come with me. We need to go someplace to talk.”
Up close, he was taller, more intense. She pushed away from him and he followed. “Not going to happen. Stay away from me.”
Plastic flapped in the wind, making it howl. Trey glanced toward it. It was enough of a distraction. She darted away from Trey, running deeper into the building. She didn’t make it far before he snagged her around the waist from behind. He pressed his lips to her ear.
“Close your eyes and calm your breathing.”
His voice was a low, hypnotic whisper that she couldn’t resist. She swallowed hard, and her eyes fluttered closed.
A twisting vortex of lust spun through her belly, shooting down to her pussy. She moaned as the energy morphed into a white-hot desire that consumed her entire body. Heat seared through her sex, making her pussy pulsate and contract, wetting her panties. She arched back against the man that held her prisoner as her body primed for orgasm by his touch.
“You feel that?” he asked.
“What’s happening to me? What trick do you play?”
His hand slid up the front of her neck where he let his callused fingers linger on the thrumming pulse below her ear. She shivered from his sensual, possessive touch.
“You and I are connected, too.”
“No!”
“Yes. I’m not doing anything but simply holding you and touching you. This is what we would be like together.”
“Liar.”
He chuckled knowingly. “I wish I had a fraction of the understanding of the world you have, but I don’t. Your gifts are far more powerful than my ability to connect to minds.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know you stopped taking your epilepsy medication by accident after your sister’s death. It was then that you discovered you don’t have epilepsy at all. You’re gifted. You’re an empathic, Rylie. You have visions of the future and use those visions to change what has yet to happen. You can read emotions, and with more practice, minds.”
She bowed, but he kept control of her body. “Stop it! I’m not gifted!”
“You go to a therapist now to try and control it. I can teach you techniques.”
She moaned.
“Rylie, I need you to trust me. I can set you free. I can help you strengthen and control your gifts.”
His voice had a seductive pull she couldn’t ignore. She reached up and held his wrist. She leaned her head back against his and his mouth dropped down to her neck. His lips brushed over her skin, sending shudders down to her hardened nipples.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
“I’m on your side, Rylie. Trust me.”
Rylie felt the edge of cock pressing between the crack of her ass. Two nights ago she had a dream about meeting this man. She’d brushed the dream off, not expecting it to come true. She didn’t need a man complicating her priorities. Not now when she was so close to putting an end to the cursed pendant.
“Come with me. There’s more you need to know.”
The order was given on a husky note. She didn’t take orders well from anyone. Not when she was used to her independence. Slowly, he lowered her to her feet, and she turned to face him. An unwanted thrill of need fluttered through her system when she caught a glimpse of his dark chest hair again. She hadn’t decided if she’d go with him but she played along. Maybe she would even let him think he was the one calling the shots for a while.
“I don’t go anywhere with men I don’t know.”
“This isn’t a game, Rylie. We need to go. Now,” he said.
“No.”
The word hung like dirty air between them. Trey didn’t look as though he got the NO word from any woman. A zing of jealousy rode wild through her mind at the thought of him pushing his cock into other women or any woman for that matter. What was wrong with her? She had to stick with her plan to go after the pendant tonight. She started away.
“Don’t walk away from me.” Trey grabbed her arm.
Rylie was so over the knight saving the damsel in distress. “Let go of me!”
“Hey! What’s going on here?”
Neither one had heard the security guard approach. Trey released her arm as though he’d been burned.
“I was just leaving,” Rylie said.
“What about him?” The guard asked. “He bothering you?”
Now was her opportunity. “Yes, he is.”
Rylie turned and ran out of the building. As she swung past open steel beams, she cast a glance over her shoulder. The guard was on his walkie-talkie, and Trey was glowering in her direction. When she was just about to go out of sight, a thought whispered through her head.
You can run and try to hide, but I’ll find you, babe.
Chapter Five
Fear had Rylie running away from the construction site. She knew she couldn’t rush back to the hotel with the agent nearby. She had to lose him in the maze of private clubs that made up 7th Street. She turned in a circle at the corner of 7th and Vine and immediately recognized the Playground that her neighbor Eric was always talking about. Rumor had it he was fifty-percent owner and a hundred-percent wanting to get into her panties. She went to the door, but two bouncers blocked the doorway.
She nervously glanced over her shoulder and tried to calm the racing of her heart, but she couldn’t. She knew she had to hurry.
“I’m on the list,” Rylie said. “I’m here for Eric James. I’m running late.”
“Name?” The bouncer asked.
“Rylie Sawyer.”
The bouncer got on a two-way radio. “Your party is in section thirteen on the second floor.”
She was stamped in with a glowing number. “Got it.”
The club’s low lighting was easy to adjust to. Music pumped through a set of high-tech speakers. Rylie bypassed the lower lounge and headed for the stairway that went to the second floor. Rylie’s hand was checked by a bouncer at the top of the stairs before she was waved through. The upper walkway would give her a perfect view of the front entrance. She moved through the hallway.
Rylie’s gaze froze on the room past the walkway.
Holy mother of orgasmic glory, of all the clubs. Eric never said he was part owner in an erotic fantasy club. The trio in the private room in front of her was made up of two women in lingerie and a man tied up in a chair. He had a huge grin on his face. Rylie was in no way a prude. Sex just wasn’t something she had lately. She saw the number on the wall. Twelve. Her gaze swung to thirteen.
Eric caught her staring at the other couple and a thrill of erotic danger zipped over her spine. His gaze was purely animal and full of dirty things he’d always wanted to do with her, but she’d been putting him off. The truth was she needed sexual release in the worst possible way. Eric made it very clear from the get-go that he was willing to be her boy toy if she wanted. Right now, she wanted him for all the wrong reasons.
He stood and smiled as she headed their way. Eric gave her a kiss on her cheek.
“Hi,” Rylie said.
“Hey. What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Hiding.”
“From who?” Eric asked.
“Someone I don’t want to find me. Mind helping me out?” She couldn’t hide the desperation from her voice.
“We’ll take care of you,” Eric said.
He drew her down to the couch to sit between him and his friend. Eric introduced Rylie to his friend Kye. A waitress came by for Rylie’s drink order. Eric ordered for her. “Were you waiting for someone?” she asked.
“No,” Eric said. He leaned in to whisper. “I need your help loosening up Kye. He’s afraid
to take that step with me. His girlfriend bailed on us.”
“Oh?” Rylie wasn’t sure what that next step was. “What did you have in mind?”
“Order us around.”
Eric was stocky and thick muscled like a body builder. His olive skin had high praise for his Italian heritage. Kye was tall and lean like a runner with dark hair.
“How do you two know each other?” Rylie asked.
“I met Eric through work,” Kye said.
Rylie caught the smoldering look Kye sent Eric. It suddenly dawned on Rylie that these two men wanted each other and wanted a reason to be together.
“Have you guys done this before?” she asked.
“This is our first time,” Kye said. “We’ve been talking about it for a while. My girlfriend isn’t interested.”
The room they were in was semiprivate since it was off in the corner, but anyone passing by would have a clear view of what was going on. Rylie sat on the couch and a shudder of pleasure went through her body when Eric ran his hand over her shoulder. He tilted her chin and kissed her fully on the mouth. It wasn’t Eric she was thinking about as she kissed him back though.
Trey was seared onto her mind and body.
She broke the kiss fast as she remembered the feel of Trey’s hands on her and not Eric’s. Rylie could see their erections solidly against their jeans.
“I can’t,” she said.
“Is it someone else?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, unfortunately it is.”
She caught sight of Trey on the walkway. He crossed the room. His gaze was locked onto her in the most predatory way. Had he seen the kiss?
“Rylie?” He growled her name.
Trey reached out and yanked her onto her feet in a possessive way. He was about to mark his territory big time and there was nothing Rylie could do to stop him. “Sorry boys, I have to go.”
Eric made an attempt to stop Trey by grabbing her other wrist, but she didn’t want him to. “Rylie?”
“I’ll be fine.”
Eric looked as though he was going to argue, but he slowly released her wrist when he caught sight of Trey’s badge on his belt buckle.