Under Orders Read Online Free PDF Page B

the faint sting left over from his earlier bite marks, and her
already erect nipple firmed to the point of pain. She squirmed as much as her
bonds would allow, and Jonathan laughed.
    “It’s no use.
I have only just finished restraining you. You will not get free unless I untie
you. I rather like having you at my mercy. I owe you an apology, and this way
you’ll just have to hear it.” He took her nipple in his mouth and sucked, and
Anna panted her question.
    “Apology for
… for what?” He sighed against her, the sensation giving her goose bumps, and
then he released her only for his fingers to play with her nipples instead.
Like livewires of electricity, her nerve endings sparked and sent darts of need
towards her clit.
    “In my haste
earlier I didn’t use anything. I’m clean, but is that going to be a problem?”
She froze, and he cupped her chin, his face so close to her now his breath
fanned over her. “Anna, answer me.”
    She blinked,
once, twice, and he frowned.
    “Yes, I mean,
no, it won’t be. I’m on the pill, but it wouldn’t anyhow. I mean you can’t …
can you?”
    “Can I what,
little one?”
    Heat rose in
her cheeks at his intense study of her. He settled one heavy hand on her
abdomen, and she swallowed hard, watching his hand just rest there.
    “Seems
slayers don’t know everything.” She flinched at the hardness of his tone and
looked up at him from under her lashes. He looked tense, but above all hurt.
His beautiful eyes held a maelstrom of emotions when he glanced at her briefly,
before removing his hand. She ached to reach out to him, but she couldn’t move,
so she had to use her words instead.
    “I’m not a
slayer. I decided long ago that I wanted no part in killing off another
species, no matter what they did to stay alive. That obsession killed my father
and my mother. It broke Grand-pop’s heart to lose Mummy. I was not going to put
him through that again—ever.”
    Jonathan
nodded once, and encouraged, she rushed on, the words now tumbling out of her
mouth.
    “And you’re
right. It seems my father did not know everything. I loved him with all my
heart, but I wasn’t blind to his faults, and neither was my mum. She was going
to leave him, you know, before … before the accident. I’d heard them arguing
when I couldn’t sleep.”
    She yanked on
her restraints, blinking furiously to stem the threatening tears from falling.
She hadn’t thought about that night in years, the memories too painful to
process. Jonathan made a rough sound at the back of his throat when a lone tear
did spill down her cheek, and in a few swift tugs he’d untied her arms. Her
ankles followed, and he gathered her up against him, his hand in her hair, one
arm around her waist, and simply held her.
    Cocooned by
his big body she felt safe, cherished even, and she buried her face into his
shoulder.
    “You don’t
have to tell me this, little one.” His voice rumbled against her cheek, and she
nodded her head.
    “Yes, I do. I
haven’t told anyone, not even Grand-pops. Dad hit Mum that night. It wasn’t the
first time, but this time was the worst. And I wished, I wished with all my
heart that he would die. And then the next day, Mummy took me to Grand-pops,
and they went on one of their trips, and they never came back.” She choked back
a sob, and he tilted her head up. Jonathan kissed the tears off her face with
such tenderness it made her cry harder.
    “Don’t. It
was my fault. I …. I wished him dead, and I killed Mummy, too.”
    The menacing
growl erupting from him at her stuttered words made her jump. Fear coiled her
muscles, and she would have clambered off his lap had he not stopped her.
    “Your
father’s death is not your fault, little one. He brought that on himself. I
should know. I was there.”
    He froze as
though he realized he’d said too much, and this time when she pushed against
his chest he released her.
    “What do you
mean, you were there?” The words came out as a