Page 52 of Vow Of Fire

For a second, I couldn’t move. I’d acted on autopilot, responding to the imminent threat before I’d realized who was underneath me.

In Afghanistan, hesitation got men killed. We’d been trained to react first and ask questions later. Most of the time, there wasn’t time for both.

The only thing that had saved her was that somewhere between my hand finding her throat and my grip tightening, I’d recognized her.

One heartbeat later, and it would have been too late.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I demanded, still kneeling above her.

She’d been leaning over me while I’d been sleeping. God only knew what she’d been about to do. I looked for a weapon, but there wasn’t one.

Instead, my keys lay on the floor.

My gaze hardened. “You were trying to escape.”

“No—I wasn’t—” she stammered, before fading off.

Her eyes betrayed her. They were everywhere but on me. I took in her tousled hair, rapidly beating pulse, and skin so pale it might be sculptured from porcelain. Her teeth gnawed at her lower lip, reddened like a strawberry, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to taste them. To crush them under mine.

Fuck.

I bit back a groan. I did not need to be thinking about kissing her right now. Except she was lying on the floor in front of me in a fucking T-shirt that was bunched up around her waist, and not much else.

As my sleep-addled brain slowly processed the sensual curve of her waist, her thighs parted around my knee, her breasts heaving like she’d just run a marathon… my body instantly responded and I went rock hard.

Goddammit. I’d managed to keep my baser instincts under control until now. But seeing her like this, spread out in front of me, ready for the taking, it was beyond even my control.

“You weren’t what?” I growled, using anger to distract her from my enormous erection.

The rapid rise and fall of her chest told me adrenaline was charging through her veins too. But was it fear—or something else?

I leaned forward and gripped her arms, pinning them to the floor. “Answer me.”

“Okay, okay. I was going for your keys, but it was a stupid idea. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

At least she hadn’t been going for my firearm. It was hidden under the couch, inches from her knees, but seconds from my fingertips. If I’d gone for it, she’d been two or three seconds from eating a bullet and I’d have more innocent blood on my hands. The thought shook me to my core and I blamed her foolishness.

“I could have killed you.” We were barely a breath apart. It wouldn’t take much to lower myself onto her and show her the consequences of her actions. I was mad enough.

Her voice was a whisper. “I know.”

“Don’t ever do that again.” I kept my eyes locked on hers. I refused to stare at her chest, at the way her breasts rose and fell as she breathed, at the hard, pointy nipples that jutted out, tempting me. Fucking taunting me.

Christ, the woman was begging for it. How the hell was I supposed to not react? I swallowed hard.

“I won’t.”

My dick throbbed painfully, pressing against the fabric of my pants. Her skin felt soft under my fingers, the pulse in her wrist racing along with the thrum of my own heart, but I was so angry, all I could think about was punishing her.

I had to get it together before I did something really fucking stupid. With superhuman effort, I released her wrists and pushed myself back up so I was sitting on the couch.

Slowly, she sat up. I got an eyeful of white panties and… I blinked.

Holy shit. Was that a wet patch between her legs?

I stared at her, unable to fathom how she could be turned on right now. Me, yes, but her? I’d nearly killed the woman.

My gaze hardened. Could it be my foolish captive enjoyed a little role play? Did she get off on the violence?