Hot for the Holidays Read Online Free PDF Page A

let you be harmed.” He moved to her, a slow, steady, stalking movement that made her mouth dry and her lips part in anticipation.
    Hard male hands clasped her upper arms as she stared up at him, mesmerized by the man and the intensity of his gaze.
    “I protect what’s mine.” His eyes moved over her face, paused at her lips, before moving up and locking with her gaze. “You’re mine, Jessica. You’ve been mine since the day I saw you. I can’t help the animal inside me that claims you. I can’t stop the need to protect you. And I would give my life to ensure that you had the time and the freedom to make this choice on your own. But I’ll be with you now, day in and day out. I will protect you. And holding back the hunger that will draw us closer will be impossible.”
    Which was why he had brought her the hormones as well as the goodies. The new hormonal treatments had given the female mates the freedom to enjoy their treats without the adverse affects that came with them. Caffeine and chocolate were known to make the symptoms of mating heat worse. The arousal, the need to mate, to touch, kiss and stroke, were nearly impossible to deny as it was. It could become painful. Jessica knew that the need for sex could become agonizing if a female was parted from her mate, unable to feel his touch, take his sex, or know his body.
    She inhaled, almost shuddering, as she fought to breathe through those realizations.
    “And if I don’t want this mating?” she asked him.
    His hands rubbed down her arms, then back up again.
    “Then you’d be lying to both of us,” he said softly. “There’s anger in you, and I don’t blame you for that anger. But there’s need, Jess, and there’s emotion. If you hadn’t been confined for a year, you would have come to my arms. We both know that.”
    “But I was confined, Hawke.” She moved away, rubbing at her upper arms as she glanced back at him before turning and facing him directly. “You stayed away from me. You never came to me.”
    “I would have mated you.” The words were ripped from him. “I would have taken you, Jess. We needed time to prove your innocence. I knew you would never willingly betray us. I had to prove it.”
    Surprise filtered through the arousal, surprise that she couldn’t ignore.
    “You were trying to prove my innocence?” She frowned. “But, Hawke, I wasn’t innocent. We both know that.”
    She had betrayed the Breeds. She had nearly gotten Hope, Faith and Charity killed. She had been responsible for an attack on Haven that could have killed so many of them.
    “You were innocent,” he stated, his voice filled with determination. “Jessica, whatever happened, you were not a willing party. We have proof of it now. I knew it then.”
    “Yet you never bothered to tell me that?” she asked with a small hint of mockery. “Wow, Hawke. What would it have taken? A note? A phone call? You could have said that and still given me a choice.” The arousal fueled the anger. Need versus pain, the knowledge she had been alone, that he hadn’t come to her, pouring through her. “You could have done something, damn you!” Her voice rose as the hurt overshadowed every other emotion.
    “In doing it, I would have risked the very investigation I instigated to prove your innocence,” he fired back. And though his voice stayed low, calm, there was a power throbbing in it that gave her pause. “If I had done anything, it would have risked your life as well as the confidence our enemies had that you were going to die and take their secrets with them.”
    “And because you think you had a good reason for what you were doing, then I should just lay down and accept this mating heat as though I have no other choice?” she parried angrily. “Excuse me, Hawke, but doesn’t that sound just a little arrogant, even for you?”
    One heavy black brow arched over golden eyes in mocking disbelief as he stared back at her.
    “Oh, yeah, how stupid of me to have