Read Online At His Command by Karen Anders - Free Book Online Page A

gave him a look that made better men back off and ground her teeth when he only smiled at her. She wiggled against him and he sighed deep in his chest. Finally, he let her go with a slow slide down his body. For far too long, he kept one arm wrapped around her, as if he couldn’t quite bear to let her go.
    He had often accused her of being obstinate, and those words brought a rush of bittersweet emotion so strong Sia had to take a moment to compose herself. She was finding it almost as difficult to move out of his embrace.
    “My independence has served me well,” she said.
    “I have no doubt.”
    He fell silent again, and maybe it was her own mounting tension over the swelling emotional war she was playing with herself that made the air between them seem to crackle. But, at least from her perspective, the awareness and anxiety were operating on another level, as well.
    He turned as if to go and she risked a quick sideways glance at him then; she couldn’t help it. His profile was solemn, his jaw hard and set. His gaze was fixed on a point at the end of the passageway. This emotion she felt could be totally one-sided. Chances were, he didn’t want or desire anything from her other than her collaboration on this case.
    She was thankful no one had witnessed her momentary breakdown. She leaned against the door frame and tried to tell herself all the reasons why being disappointed with that probable reality was a really dangerous way to feel.
    “Sia, there’s no shame in accepting help.”
    It was a struggle to find her composure. He was far too close, and every facet of her equilibrium was threatened, physically, emotionally, intellectually. “There is when I’m an officer in the Navy and in an official capacity aboard an aircraft carrier. I didn’t need to defend my professionalism before you showed up at JAG and hijacked my case.”
    “I didn’t hijack your case.”
    “Yes, you did. When you hijacked it, you wouldn’t back down or reassign someone else. You refused. Now we have this…”
    She trailed off.
    “This?”
    “Never mind. I’m going to bed.” She turned her back to him and grabbed the handle to open the stateroom door. She felt shame at the need to escape.
    “No, wait a minute. You can’t leave it hanging like that.”
    “Chris, I don’t want to rehash old news or old feelings. It’s been too long and we both know what we had ended when my brother died. That’s the end of the story.”
    There was that palpable danger again. His hand slipped over hers on the doorknob. She could feel how close he was to her, her back tingling with his nearness, the heat of him. The situation between them was spiraling out of control. All the more reason to get the investigation back on track. She’d think everything through later, figure out what to do about it. When he was far, far away and not looking at her the way he had looked at her. Like he still wanted to consume her.
    And, damn her memories, she knew what it would be like to let him.
    “Is it? I think you still feel something, Sia.”
    “No.” But her protest was low and breathless.
    And if Chris himself wasn’t dangerous, then what she felt when he was this near surely was. She couldn’t fall for him, not for his body or his tarnished soul or his allure of the forbidden. There was no room in her life for this man. She couldn’t have her heart broken again; she was still trying to glue the pieces back together from the last time she had come apart.
    But she couldn’t seem to remove her hand. It seemed a lifeline, an anchor that bolstered her as the memories, good and bad, flashed over her like an uncontrollable fire.
    He grasped her hand and turned her toward him and she was powerless to resist.
    Holding her breath, she counted the beats of her heart, her eyes on his, wondering why she didn’t take her own advice and let go. Walk away.
    His hand squeezed hers and his eyes softened. “Sia,” he said, his voice low and textured like raw