The Naked Truth Read Online Free PDF Page B

lashed out, shoving at his chest.
    “You need to let me touch you,” he breathed in her ear, his hot breath sending electricity straight to her nipples. “We need contact to have m’ittar.”
    She pushed him aside enough to slide off the couch. Her ass hit the floor but only for a second as she scooted away from him. “We aren’t having anything!” she snarled. “Certainly not some sort of kinky alien sex.”
    He grinned, a slow sly grin of pure arrogance that males of his sort, anywhere, had perfected over the millennia.
    She stood, stiffened her back and narrowed her eyes at him. “I won’t be pressured. This is sexual abuse. I’ll demand a new investigator.”
    That stopped the smile.
    “You will not. I am your Examiner. I regret that your impression of our contact is disturbing, but it is also incorrect. M’ittar is the mind contact we have begun to share.” The grin came back as if he somehow knew some small part of her found the idea tempting. “Not something…kinky.”
    She turned her back on him, wrapping her arms around her naked chest, and huffed a breath between her lips. Confusion warred with desire inside her. For a second she’d felt attracted to Kiis. Now she wanted him far from her. He had the powerful sort of physique that she’d always gone for, but how could she want a man when she didn’t even know his first name? And an alien, for God’s sake, let alone her potential prosecutor. Not that something like that would have stopped her before. If she’d wanted something she’d have gone for it.
    For the first time in her sexual adulthood she wavered, and the hesitation made her doubt herself even more. The conflicting emotions were strong enough to make her want to lash out at his smug face, even as she realized that she’d felt safer in his arms than she had in months.
    “Touching makes the contact possible between our races. The more we touch, the deeper the contact will be. The more certain I will be of the truth. Among my people it is accepted for m’ittar to lead to intimacy as the contact deepens, but it doesn’t have to result in anything more than an embrace if you choose.”
    “You just surprised me. That’s all.” Her voice once again let her down, and she hated how much it gave away, how shaky she sounded. When did I become such an Earthbound wuss? she berated herself. Be a marine, woman.
    “I am sorry if this surprised you, but I must know what happened.”
    She turned to face him, her confusion shifting into anger. He was standing now too, and much closer than she had thought. “What happened? What happened was I was kidnapped, held hostage, tortured and nearly killed.” Her voice wavered and rose in pitch as she continued. “Yes, I did give them information. But I had to give them something or they would have killed me. I gave them as little as possible—just enough that they were sure to be destroyed!”
    “Hush, be calm. I understand your pain. Let me help you through this.” He reached for her, pulled her to him.
    His arms surrounded her, a gentle embrace offering warmth and support. Never in her life had she wanted that from a man, needed it. She was a military career woman. Why would she ever need anyone to smother her this way? But she leaned into him, accepted his touch and closed her eyes to the past.
     
     
    He knew she was in pain. Her bones and skin had been healed, but she hurt, deep inside her psyche. He couldn’t stand it, couldn’t let the pain continue, whether she was guilty or innocent. He pulled her body to his, feeling her taut muscles trembling with fear and confusion, even hatred—directed at him or at those who had tortured her, or possibly even at herself. He wasn’t sure. And that was the point—he needed to be sure. But the pain needed to stop or he, too, would fall into it.
    He held her close, feeling her cool skin against his. This species’ body temperature ran lower than his, reminding him of the blue-skinned race he’d