Resist Read Online Free PDF Page B

body that’s been trained into physical perfection. Anyone should like Cole.
    But I’ve grown up with him, and so viewing him as more than a friend or even a brother is confusing. That’s part of it, the weirdness. The other part is that I don’t want to feel protected. I want to feel wild and crazy and free, and I can’t with him. Cole is the perfect soldier. I’m very clearly not.
    â€œDo you want to tell me what happened in the stairwell?” he asks.
    I pull on the plain T-shirt that was packed for me. “No. I mean, nothing happened.”
    He’s resting against the SUV, and his head jerks my way. Then he seems to remember that he promised not to watch me. “You brought it up earlier. I thought it might be something you wanted to talk about.”
    â€œThere’s nothing to talk about it. I was just wondering why you didn’t mention it.”
    â€œObviously because there’s nothing to mention. It’s not even worth discussing.”
    I can’t tell if that’s sarcasm, so I’d rather take it at face value. “Exactly.”
    â€œI’m not going to let Malone do anything to hurt you.” He speaks quietly because the words are borderline treasonous.
    I freeze from the torrent of emotions sweeping through me. Fear and love. I do love Cole, and this is why, but I can’t kill my worries either. “It’s going to be fine. I’m going to be fine.”
    â€œI know you will.”
    I button my jeans and slip on my sneakers. Now I’m dressed like Cole—like an entirely normal person. I find a hair tie in the bag and start to pull my hair into a ponytail, but Cole stops me.
    This time, perhaps because the adrenaline rush of the mission is over or because of where my mind’s been, my skin tingles under his touch. I hold my breath as he releases my hand, and he brushes my hair over my shoulders.
    â€œIt has all these waves in it from being up.” He combs his fingers through them, and my resistance to his charms crumples to the parking lot. With each strand of hair he separates, he’s pulling me closer. It’s as though I can sense his fingers on my scalp. It’s a feathery sensation that travels down my body and strengthens into a delicate throb between my legs.
    I wet my lips, which are hovering so close to his I can taste his breath. “There are rules.”
    It’s my fallback excuse. If I’m too weak to stand by my conviction that we’re wrong for each other, I can rely on RedZone’s unfair rules to forbid this. Cole is a stickler for rules.
    Except when they come to me, it seems.
    â€œDon’t worry about them.” His body touches mine, and my ache is becoming a scream. “You were so beautiful tonight. It was so hard not to touch you in that dress.”
    His voice is heavy with emotion. He traces my lips with a fingertip, and my eyes close as he slides his thumb down my throat. I need to tell him to stop, but I’ve lost the ability to speak. When I open my mouth, it’s only to gasp with pleasure as he reaches the curve of my breasts. His thumbs graze my nipples, which are tight from the chill and his touch, and then he slips his whole hand around my hip.
    As though on autopilot, my hands grip the excess fabric of his shirt. His body heat seeps through the thin material, urging me on. “I didn’t look like myself tonight.”
    â€œFake hair and eye color are meaningless. I could see you underneath, and you will always be beautiful.”
    Then his lips find mine, gentle but sure, and I’m kissing him back hungrily. I’m not the perfect soldier, nor the right girl for him. But he very much makes me want to be.
    His weight presses me against the SUV, and I’m no longer cold. I’m moaning, nearly as disconnected from reality as I was in Nobel and Reese’s stairwell. Only now I’m trapped by these sensations, unable to think clearly.