Break the Day - Lara Adrian Page 0,22

a child, she had been cautioned to take care with her unique Breed ability. Her brother too. Both daywalkers, both the children of their genetically enhanced mother, Camilla, she and Harrison shared this incredible, inherited gift. They had been raised to respect the power they could wield at their will.

“I don’t feel very unstoppable now,” she said, mortified to still be lying helplessly across his lap. “As you can see, once the effect wears off I’m useless for a while. Total crash and burn situation.”

“So, this always happens to you afterward?”

“Yeah. More or less.” In tonight’s case, it was definitely more. Her limbs had felt stretched, wrung out. The rest of her body had felt sapped and deflated, a husk that was only now beginning to come back to life. Her vitality was returning swiftly now, energy moving through her veins and bones.

All thanks to Rafe.

And while there was nothing sexual about his touch, it was impossible for her to ignore the pool of heat that began to bloom in her core as his palms skated over her clothed body. She shifted on his lap, unsettled by the quickening of her blood and the arousal that was licking through her senses.

A quiet moan escaped her before she could curb it. Rafe answered with a low, strangled groan. His hand went still on her belly, and she felt the outline of his broad palm and each strong finger as if his touch were branding her.

“Rafe . . .” She didn’t know what she was going to say.

His eyes met hers, something unreadable flickering through them now. Her throat jammed with a hundred unsettling thoughts, words she hardly dared to speak out loud.

Especially to him.

His glance drifted to her parted lips and hesitated there. Was he thinking about the way her mouth had felt on his in the parking lot outside Ocho’s garage?

God knew, she had been unable to put that kiss out of her mind for even a second since it happened.

And in spite of her outrage at the time—in spite of her threat to ash him for it—right now, she couldn’t think of anything she wanted more than to feel his lips pressed against hers again.

Now that her limbs were her own to command once more, she slid her hand tentatively over his.

Rafe’s expression darkened into a scowl. But in his eyes, embers smoldered. A tendon pulsed in his rigid jaw, as if her tenderness confused him.

Or worse, piqued his mistrust.

On a gravelly, uttered curse, he drew his hand out from under hers.

Clearly, he hadn’t intended their kiss to be anything more than a means to an end. Just his way of forcing her to reveal herself as Breed so he could use the knowledge against her.

If she had read anything more into it, the mistake was all hers.

“How do you feel?” he asked as his touch left her completely.

“Better.” She felt foolish, honestly. Naïve to have imagined his care with her tonight was inspired by anything other than gratitude. Lifting off his lap, she pushed his jacket toward him. “Thanks for the help. We’d better get back to Ocho’s. Cruz will be wondering what happened to us by now.”

He gave her a dark look and cleared his throat. “Before we do that, we need to talk.”

“About what?”

“You can start by telling me what you’re doing with men like them in the first place. You have no loyalty to Cruz. If you were truly one of his gang, you wouldn’t be deceiving them about the fact that you’re Breed.”

“I have my reasons.”

“What are they?”

“Personal.”

He shook his head. “Maybe before, but not now. Not when I have to decide whether to keep your secret from Cruz and protect your interests, or tell him and look out for my own.”

So, there it was. He’d just played his best card. The one she had personally handed to him earlier tonight.

“I knew it wouldn’t take long before you threatened to expose me to them,” she said, feeling stung and cornered. “To think, just a few minutes ago you were thanking me for saving your ass. I guess it’s good to know what your gratitude is worth.”

She rose from the bench, but Rafe stood with her. Face to face, with only inches between them, there was no way to avoid his probing stare.

“You’re in over your head, Devony. What happened here tonight has only increased the odds that you’re going to get hurt. Or worse. You need to know you’re dealing with some very dangerous