Lover Uncloaked (Stealth Guardians #1) - By Unknown Page 0,39

arm snaked around her waist, pulling her tightly against him.

It hadn’t been hard to find her. She’d really had only two options: her apartment and her lab. Sure, she could have gone to any hotel, but knowing what he knew about her life, what he’d read in her file, he guessed she would choose a familiar place, somewhere where she felt safe. He’d figured she’d choose the lab for obvious reasons. One being that her apartment was uninhabitable right now, the other that she deemed her office to be safe from intruders. It wasn’t.

He’d had no problem sneaking past the security guard. In his cloaked state, he was invisible to the unsuspecting man.

Aiden moved his mouth to Leila’s ear, a strand of her hair brushing his cheek in the process. “Quiet, Leila.”

He felt her body jolt at the realization that it was he who was keeping her captive once more. A muffled word he didn’t catch bounced against his palm. Her warm breath nearly torched him, sending a hot flame into his groin.

“That’s right, it’s me. It was very stupid of you to run away. Didn’t I tell you I’d protect you?” He felt himself getting angry again. “Will you remain quiet if I take my hand off your mouth now?”

She moved her head up and down in agreement.

Slowly he lifted his hand and turned her toward him in the same instance. Her lips instantly parted, her throat tightening. Clearly, she wasn’t going to comply with his wishes. There was only one thing he could do now.

With a low curse, he yanked her flush against him and slid his lips over hers, capturing her mouth in a searing kiss, one he’d been craving all night.

Shit, this wasn’t how this was supposed to play out. All he should do was to collect her insolent ass and haul her back to a safe place, watching her like a hawk. And what was he doing, idiot that he was? Kissing her!

And it was no ordinary kiss. He devoured her mouth, plundered her delicious cavern, tangled with her reluctant tongue until a sound—part sob part sigh—escaped her. Still, he didn’t stop. On the contrary, the little sound she’d made spurred him on even further, made him thread his fingers through her hair to hold her tighter to him. All the while her fists beat against his shoulders in a futile attempt to get him to stop.

Sliding his other hand to the sweet curve of her ass and palming it, he pressed her against his growing erection. He wanted to punish her for escaping him. Maybe this would teach her to listen to him. Because a charge who didn’t listen to her bodyguard was as good as dead. And that was a prospect he didn’t relish. At the thought of Leila been hurt, or worse, dead, an icy-cold hand clamped around his heart, squeezing the life out of him. He’d only once before felt like that: when Julia had died. He couldn’t allow this to happen again. He had to find a way so Leila would trust him.

What if they’d met under other circumstances? Would she mold her sinful body to his, press her soft curves into his hard muscles with abandon as if they were lovers? The thought ricocheted in his mind. Could he ever make her understand him to the point where such a thing was possible?

Aiden released her, albeit reluctantly.

Leila glared at him, gasping for air. Her lips looked thoroughly kissed. Her eyes darted past him toward the door that he blocked, thoughts of escape so clearly etched in her face as if he were reading her mind.

“How dare you? How did you get in here?” Her clipped tone underscored her anger, and the way she wiped her lips with the back of her hand was so deliberate he knew the gesture was meant to tell him that his physical attention wasn’t wanted.

“The way I always do, through the walls.”

“The security guard will have seen you on the cameras. He will have alerted the police already.”

“He didn’t see me.”

She took a slow step back and bumped against the open safe door behind her. His eyes were instantly drawn to the dark interior. He motioned his head toward it. “What happened here?”

“Why don’t you tell me?” she spat. “You opened the safe. You did this!”

He took an instinctive step in her direction, making her shrink back. “And when would I have done that, Leila? I was with you all night. You had an