Breaking Day Read online

  Seleina stilled for half a second before she started up again and tried to twist herself loose from his hold.

  The feel of her bottom rubbing against his cock caused him to harden again almost instantly. Ryan fought against the tantalizing feeling and willed himself to go limp.

  “Let go of me!”

  “I will as soon as you stop struggling and I’m sure you won’t make another run for the door.”

  “I guess we’re going to have to do this all night ‘cause there’s no way in hell either of those requests are going to happen.”

  “You wish, sweetheart.”

  Ryan twisted Seleina clockwise and tugged her front forward, flat against his solid chest, and tightened his grip around her waist thus pinning her arms to her side. Seleina was now completely immobile. He lowered his head so that his lips were only centimeters from her tiny ear.

  “I said to stop struggling,” he whispered and felt the smallest shiver move through her body, “Like I said before, I’m not here to hurt you, only help you.”

  Her hair was like silk on his cheek and he resisted the urge to take a taste of her earlobe. It had been awhile since he had been with a woman. His training did not allow for any real amounts of free time and even those moments were usually spent studying the enemy and preparing for new assignments.

  “Why should I believe you?” She countered in her own muted, husky voice.

  Seleina was barely out of breath when she spoke, not an easy feat to accomplish while struggling against his conditioned strength. Was it his force restricting her voice or possibly a hint of lust?

  Whatever the reason, Ryan had to keep his mind focused on the business at hand.

  “If I wanted to do any kind of harm against you, do you really think it would take me three tries?”

  This was the couple’s third encounter, and he waited while Seleina recalled the same. If he really wanted to do her physical damage, Ryan could have easily completed that task earlier this morning. Standing here, in this position, he had only to squeeze the life out of her while he held her small body in place against his own. She may have been a little more spry than he had anticipated, but it still would have taken little effort on his part to accomplish either task.

  “No, but that doesn’t mean you won’t try anything later. How do I know you won’t your mind or something?”

  Her question was logical.

  “I give you my word as a member of the Elite Ops Corps that I have no purpose but to protect you.”

  It was the only way he knew to get her to start trusting him.

  “The what? The Corps? Like the marines or something?”

  By this time, he had slackened on the intensity of his hold. When Seleina made no moves to run, he finally released her. She eyed him without blinking.

  “Something like that, only for a much higher power and for a much greater purpose. We have no borders, no allegiances to any territory or person. Our missions keep an equal balance of power across the globe.”

  “Are you some kind of religious nut? A mystic or something?” She squinted those beautiful eyes and he watched every movement of her long, thick lashes.

  “No,” he answered without hesitation.

  “Well, what are you talking about? Explain.”

  Seleina’s hand took their stations on her curvy hips and Ryan wanted to slide his own hands over her sun kissed skin. To hold down her hand while he ravished her plump lips.

  “That’s what I have been trying to do all day.”

  “Please, go on.”

  “I am a fallen.”

  “A what?”

  “Are you going to let me finish or keep interrupting me for every few words that I manage to say?”

  She turned her head to the side and sucked in her lips, obviously a little cross about the bluntness of his words.

  “Now, may I continue?”

  Seleina remained silent and Ryan took that as his cue to continue, hopefully with minimal interruptions from now on.

  He chose his next words carefully. After all, there was no reason that she needed to know the details of his entire story, only what was necessary to accomplish establishing a trust factor between them.

  “I was a bad guy in my former life.”

  Her head snapped back to focus on his face and Ryan saw the questions forming in her mind, her eyes were so easy to read. She remained silent this time and waited for him to continue.

  “I did some things that I should be punished for, severely punished. I was caught and should have been serving a very lengthy sentence right now. Lucky me, I had other qualities that come in handy for this particular unit. I had street smarts, was quick to learn and fast to act, plus I had the physical requirements nailed. My superiors quickly convinced me that by serving out my sentence this way, I would have a better chance of getting a reprieve when my second trial came around.”

  She held her hand up.

  “Okay, now I am more confused than when you started. What are you saying? Are you saying that you’re doing atonement?”

  “Smart girl. Not quite, but very close.”

  “How close am I?”

  “Close enough that I’ll have to erase your memory before I leave to go to my next job.”

  “This is all too much. Can I leave now? Wait, I live here,” the revelation flashed across her face, “the question is, can you get out now?”

  “No.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “The simple answer is ‘no’, I cannot leave. Where you go, I go, and vice versa. Once again, you didn’t let me finish what I had to say.”

  “Please, by all means continue with your delusion. I have all the time in the world.”

  Seleina rolled her eyes and folder her arms over her chest. She meant it as an act to show her annoyance, but Ryan found it to be adorable.

  A smug smile lifted the corners of his lips. His fists clenched as the impulse to touch her started to creep up on him again. This time, he would have no excuse to lay his hands on her sensual body. For now, he had to keep his paws to himself and like it.

  “The reason why I can no longer let you out of my sight is because there are people who want you dead.”

  He tilted his head to indicate the world outside her home.

  She blinked and swallowed, the fire in her eyes dissipated. The first timid reaction he had seen her display since making her acquaintance. His heart did a quick and heavy thud within his massive chest wall.

  “What do you mean? Why? I haven’t done anything to anyone. I don’t even really know or talk to anyone in this town. I only moved here a few months ago. I go to work, I go home, and that’s it.”

  Her eyes flashed and Ryan did not need to be able to read minds to know what her next question was going to be.

  “Where’s David?”

  While Seleina’s question was stated with the calmest demeanor, his acute hearing heard her heart rate triple. He couldn’t tell her the truth just yet. He needed for her to understand the seriousness of her own situation first before panicking over the fate of someone else. Someone she was powerless to help at this point.

  “He’s safe.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “David should not be your concern right now.”

  “The hell he isn’t. You take me to him right now, or so help me, you’ll be sorry.”

  She made a small fist and Ryan conceded at that moment that he wanted her. In the bed, on the floor, over by the couch. Anywhere. He had to taste her fire, her heat, the flame inside of this vivacious woman. Not now, but soon.

  A shudder echoed through the walls, the sound of padding across the sealing overhead. A low growl sounded from the stairs. Further explanation would have to wait. He had been so captivated by Seleina’s beauty, he had neglected to carry out his first code of conduct on any mission, ensure the safety of all dwellings. Ryan had forgotten to seal the entrances and now the intruders had found a way within the house.

  ~5~

  The
man currently obstructing Seleina’s freedom was maddening. He was annoying, brute, and easily overpowered her miniscule strength. But, oh goodness, was he gorgeous. He had to be the most beautiful man she had ever encounter in all of her twenty-six years on this earth.

  His midnight black hair was cut close, only perhaps an inch longer than the standard military cut. Seleina wanted to run her fingers through its short lengths and feel its slickness against her skin. The shade of his deep blue eyes was intense enough to have her senses swimming to the point of no return. Every fiber in her being was fighting to push away the hypnotic pull that was a constant in the reflection of those lenses. The very light tan of his skin nearly glowed. The immense size of his body set her passion aflame. His entire presence seemed like it was tailor made to be entrancing, seductive, yet stern and hard, all wrapped in the same intoxicating package.

  She wanted him and her tiny nub ached for his touch. A man she had met less than twenty-four hours ago. A man who may have kidnapped her and possibly murdered her co-worker. A man whose name she still did not know. Seleina wanted to spread her legs for him and to feel him push his way inside of her and make her scream. He awakened a part of her consciousness that craved to be satiated.

  As much as Seleina enjoyed the verbal sparring with him, she had enjoyed the roughness of his strength overpowering her even more. Escape had been her first thought when awakening to him staring daggers at her, nevertheless, comfort and peace is what she found once his arms were wrapped around her. Her mind came to blows against the feelings. Nothing good could come from wanting a stranger this badly.

  “You tell me what happened to David right now!”

  He held up a hand to her and turned his raven colored head slightly to the left. Seleina thought she saw his ears perk up, they seemed to lift upward, like how a canine’s would when they were listening for something.

  “Don’t make a sound,” he mouthed the words slowly.

  The intensity of his stare as he issued the order made Seleina freeze where she stood.

  This has to stop. I’m jumping out of my skin at every sound.

  “For good reason,” the man said and Seleina raised her dark sculpted eyebrow.

  “I didn’t say anything,” she whispered, afraid to speak any louder for fear that whatever was hiding in the shadows might hear her.

  “You thought it,” he winked at her and that small action unnerved and excited her in the same instant.

  “That’s not possible. This is stupid.”

  Seleina refused to speak in low tones this times around and went to move toward him when the sound he had been following finally caught her ears.

  A low growl, then a snarl. Something caught her sight. A shadow rushed down the wall adjacent to the stairs.

  “What the – ”

  The words were lost in Seleina’s throat as another shadow, twice as large followed the same path.

  “Seleina, move! Now!”

  She heard the order but was at a loss to get her limbs to start any motion.

  He dove forward and she landed on the floor as the two shadows flowed like black ink over the spot where she was.

  The choking smell of putrid meat floated up her nostrils.

  The forms stopped near the couch. While the man covered her body with his, the black Dobermans snarled in the direction of the couple. Both masses remained under shadow, no color inhabited the forms. Large claws jutted from their oversized paws, grotesquely enlarged canines extended over the saliva-covered lips.

  Seleina inhaled a deep breath as the man’s heavy weight shifted upward and lunged toward the two dogs.

  The beasts had been standing directly next to one another and then shifted to opposite sides as he tried to encircle them with his long arms. Slipping from his grasp they moved behind his back. His next counter-move was almost imperceptible to Seleina’s vision. It was an about-face to meet the on comers’ attack.

  Seleina lay flat against the floor. She wanted to help him, but knew her efforts would be futile. Though this was her first time actually seeing the creatures with her own eyes, she was sure they were what had attacked her before. The pungent smell was all too familiar.

  She watched in horror as the bloodthirsty canines leaped and jumped at the man’s chest and sliced through his cotton shirt. Streaks of blood beaded up from the welts where the wounds were. He fought the animals and was finally able to brace his bulging arm around the neck of one and swiftly twisted, while the other tugged ruthlessly at the sleeve of his shirt. He performed the same procedure on the second attacker.

  Seleina remained motionless, too afraid to move, even more afraid to think, to process internally the scene she had witnessed.

  Her eyes focused on the man panting heavily in front of her. He offered only the briefest glance in her direction before walking over to the windows and checking and securing the locks.

  “Is there another way inside the house?”

  When Seleina remained silent, he turned those coal black eyes on to her.

  “Is there another way in here?”

  His words were fierce and Seleina answered without further hesitation.

  “Yes, there’s a back door through the kitchen. Also, the windows in the bedroom and bathroom upstairs.”

  “Stay here. If you see anything else move, and I mean anything, you scream – loud.”

  She nodded her head and watched him bound up the stairs two at a time.

  ~6~

  When he returned, Seleina was on the couch with her head secured in the cup of her hands. She heard what must have been him dragging and lifting the bodies from the floor. Then, there was the spell of cleaning fluid while he wiped down the area where the fight had taken place.

  Seleina heard him walk toward where she was huddled on the couch. When she sensed him approaching, Seleina finally lifted her head and he called to her with his beautiful ocean blue eyes.

  He reached out his arms to her, beckoning her to come to him. In a flash, every moment over the last hours came crashing down on her. Seleina stood and held up her arms. For the first time in her life, since she was a small child, Seleina needed and wanted to be held. To feel safe. To be sure that the world was still spinning and that everything was going to be okay because, for the moment, she was lost and afraid.

  She placed her arms around his thick neck and he hooked his under her legs and lifted her lightweight easily into his steel tight embrace.

  Hot tears threatened to spill. Her cheeks were searing. Seleina heard a small whimper escape her own throat. This was so unlike her usually unshakeable demeanor and she was afraid of the feelings bursting through her soul.

  “Shh. Everything is all right now. I have you. Seleina, don’t cry.”

  The man who had only moments ago fought off rabid beasts in her own home now coddled her like the frightened child she felt like.

  “What’s your name?” She asked while her head was pressed firmly to his chest. She smelled the sweat on his skin and it enticed her.

  He laughed and pulled her closer.

  When he spoke against her hair, his heavy breath tickled the nape of Seleina’s neck.

  “Ryan Day, at your service. And you are Seleina Vaughn. Pleased to meet you.”

  “How do you know me?” She offered in a low voice, trying desperately to control her emotions.

  “Seleina, I know everything about you.”

  The thought that a man she knew nothing about was so familiar with her life should have frightened her, only it was comfort that Seleina was experiencing. She smiled and her lips brushed against one of the scratch marks.

  “Ryan, you’re hurt,” she looked up and tranquil blue peered back at her.

  A blush covered her already hot cheeks.

  “I’m fine.”

  “No, we need to get these cleaned off before they get infected. I insist.”

  Seleina forced her legs down and Ryan reluctantly allowed her to stand under her own power.

  She grabbe
d his hand in an effort to lead him to the kitchen where she kept a first-aid kit.

  “Seleina, trust me. It won’t be necessary.”

  He tugged at her hand, now firmly enveloped in his larger one, and the small action was enough to bring her back facing him. Ryan dipped his head low. His lips grazed over hers and then he pulled back.

  “I have wanted to do that all day.”

  His rich masculine voice wrapped itself around her senses. She looked at the spots again and the wounds were already starting to close.