Taken by Chance Read Online Free PDF Page B

over, her heart that was
beating dangerously fast as he walked over to her with his square jaw clenched
shut, his brow furrowed, his eyes worried. He stopped just short of her, and
she almost willed him out loud to just touch her. There was some kind of field
between them, something that pulled at her core, something that she wouldn’t be able to resist for much longer.
    What was it about him?
    “Three is
cheating,” he said. “I’ll give you number three. Then it’s your turn.”
    “Ok,” she
breathed. He was so close. She could smell him. No cologne, no spice,
just…male. “You already know your third biggest fear?”
    “I had some bad
nights after I came back from Afghanistan. I got ‘em ranked already.”
    Lena immediately
felt horrible, but Chance didn’t seem bothered. Not even a little bit. She could feel his eyes on her, unwavering,
intense, raw. What was he thinking?
    Did he feel this,
too?
    “I’m sorry,” she
whispered, looking down.
    “Not your fault.
It’s always a little different, and half the time it doesn’t make any sense,
because dreams are crazy. But it’s always someone I love dying, and always
because of something I did. Something I screwed up.”
    “Oh God…”
    Ask a personal question , get a personal answer . She couldn’t believe he’d told her that. Like she deserved that confidence.
    “Hey,” Chance said,
and tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. That voice again.
Commanding. “There’s nothing for you to feel bad about. And you owe me an
answer.”
    “Yes, sir,” she
said, trying to make it a joke, like maybe that way he wouldn’t see the effect
he had on her.
    Instead something
flashed in Chance’s eyes. Something hard, and hungry. It
burned where their skin touched, and Lena wanted more of it. She wanted
whatever she’d just seen. The hunger hit her like a blow to the chest, flooding
her body, making her breasts swell, her nipples harden, her clit ache, and she
sucked in her breath.
    For a moment, he
seemed lost in it, too. Then he snapped awake and took a step back.
    “What’s your
name?” he asked. “That’s my first question.”
    “Oh wow,” Lena
muttered. “I can’t believe I didn’t tell you my name.”
    “Tell me.” He said
it quick, rough. His tone made her clench, drove the ache even deeper, and she
took a deep, calming breath.
    Why had he walked
away? Why did she care? She should be terrified of what this represented, of
what Chance was , after what she’d
been through with Richie. Richie had convinced her to finally explore the kinks
she’d always fantasized about, and then he’d used it to hurt her. Chance was
into the same things. She hadn’t known if the rumors were true, but everything
about him said that he was dominant in everything. She should want to run away.
She did want to run away, in a way.
But her body wanted to run right into his arms. It was only all the years of
heartbreak and scar tissue that kept her still.
    “Lena Simone
Maddox,” she said. “I use my middle name professionally, though.”
    “I like Lena.”
    She smiled weakly.
“Me, too.”
    “Your turn, Lena.”
    Her mind was
spinning. She felt light-headed—high, even. All she wanted was for him to
come close to her again. She wanted his hands on her, she wanted his mouth on
hers, she wanted him to help her stop thinking herself
in circles. That’s what she’d been doing the past two days, and it was killing
her, and she was still afraid of taking the plunge.
    “Why did you help
me, really?” Lena said.
    “Lena,” he said,
looking down at her. “Here’s the truth. I don’t like men who pick on women. And
seeing you smile is the best part of my day. That’s it. That’s all of it. I
don’t want anything else from you, and I don’t have much else to offer you.”
    Oh God.
    The best part of his day…
    …Much else?
    That did it. Lena
closed her eyes, hard, and when she opened them back up she knew what she
wanted. She told her inner cynic