Dawn Endeavor 3: Julian's Jeopardy Read Online Free PDF

since meeting Jules, the very word “naked” immediately conjured up images of the sexy but bruised prisoner. Her tremble of disgust quickly turned to one of arousal. No matter how much she told herself not to think about the poor man that way, she couldn't help it. Jules could look at her lips or breasts any way he liked. And how messed up am I that I’m turned on by a guy who doesn’t even believe I’m a real person? Not only is he out-of-my-league hot, but he’s in pain and doped to the gills, and I’m lusting after him. Pitiful, Sheridan. Just pitiful.

    Fixing him, despite the drugs he'd been given, took a lot of energy.
    Fortunately, she had cured him without experiencing that odd, out-of-control desire for him while doing so. Seeing him bloody and beaten cured most of her arousal.
    And the drain on her power, mingled with the ever-present threat of Ricardo so near, took the zing right out of her while she healed him.
    Jules had promised her that he continued to remain mute about her participation in his recuperation. But he still wouldn't tell her why Ricardo was holding him, and he'd cautioned her not to trust anyone else with what she'd done.
    To her surprise, she trusted him. She'd never told Pedro that she'd seen him more than that first time.
    Sheridan worried about her safety. She still planned to escape, and with Pedro's help, she would. But she couldn't leave Jules behind. She wouldn't. She glanced again at the bed sitting in her spacious bedroom. While she would try to sleep on a thick mattress, poor Jules dangled from iron chains welded to a stone wall. In a freakin' cave.
    “Sheridan, dear, how are you?”
    She started, then cringed as she slowly turned around. Ricardo had entered her quarters unannounced. He'd never done that before. She hadn't been expecting anything but to crawl into bed, and she wore minimal clothing: a thin camisole, a pair of boxer-style shorts, and her grandfather's ring around her neck on a chain—a precious family heirloom that meant the world to her. She normally kept the ring in her jewelry box, but at night she liked it close. A piece of her past in a place she hoped wouldn't be her future for much longer.
    He stared at her with hunger in his eyes, and she crossed her arms over her chest, unnerved. She hated that look on his face—the one that told her he clearly envisioned her sans clothes.
    “Oh, um, hi, Ricardo.”
    He drew closer, his gaze roaming her face and settling on her lips.
    She refrained from doing anything that might provoke him, instinctively sensing that to show fear or unease would only spur his interest. “I was just getting ready for bed.”
    “Hmm, that's too bad. You see, you and I, we need to talk.” He pounced, slamming her backward and down onto the bed and settling the full force of his much larger frame on her, surprising her with the speed of his action. To her disgust, he ground an erection against her belly.
    Dumb, dumb, dumb . She should have been prepared for this. The years of gifts, the subtle yet increasing sexual interest in his glances, the avid interest she always wished didn't exist, Pedro's warning that Ricardo wanted her, not Elena.
    She'd thought she'd have more time before confronting him. Hell, she'd hoped that she might escape before that came to pass. Now she had to deal with him and pray she could survive the fallout.

    “You've been a naughty girl, Sheridan. Seeing Julian in secret, hmm?” He leaned closer, his eyes black with lust. “I bet the sight of you threw him into an uproar. That fine ass, those round tits. You're a tasty little treat, aren't you, cara ?”
    “R-Ricardo, I don't… Why are you doing this? What do you want?”
    “Ah, what do I want?” He used one hand to pin her wrists above her head, his grip so strong, she felt bruised. With his other hand, he cupped her breast and squeezed.
    She wanted to gag. Everything about him was wrong. His touch, his scent, the sight of his cruel gaze as it ripped