The Lost by Caridad Piñeiro Page A

changed that. Or at least, part of it.”
    He shook his head, not comprehending. “Me? How did I—”
    “When you touched me. You put your hand on my arm and—”
    “I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He recalled how in his desire to see that she was okay he had skimmed his fingertips along her arm. Lost control over his power, letting it leak out as his emotions overruled common sense.
    With a strong shake of her head, she cupped his cheek. Her touch was already familiar and awoke need in him. The aura around her body broadened and grew an even richer blue, spreading onto him as she touched his face. The brightness of it matched the intensity in her golden gaze.
    “You
helped
me. See,” she said and elevated her left arm, rotated it, flexed, and made a tight fist with her hand. “I couldn’t do this before your touch.”
    “That’s not possible.” His powers had always taken and not given.
    She rubbed her thumb along his lips, and the scattered bits of energy racing through his body gathered into a molten pool at his center, then dipped lower as she scooted to the edge of her chair and inched closer to him.
    “When you ran your fingers along my skin, I felt warmth. It turned into sharp tingles and then pins and needles,” she explained, and then, as if she wanted to show him, she danced her fingers along the back of his hand.
    Her caress awakened him, but not in a healing kind ofway. As she paused and her fingers trembled against his skin, he realized she was experiencing the passion as well.
    He wanted to touch her. Wanted to savor the softness of her skin beneath his fingers, but he feared that contact. And not just because he might hurt her. He feared becoming any closer to this woman who was somehow making him want things that weren’t possible for him.
    “This isn’t a good idea, Bobbie.”
    She stroked her hand up and down his arm and his gut twisted into a painful knot.
    “You feel it, don’t you? The connection?” she asked, her gaze filled with yearning and confusion. She, too, wanted as much as she feared.
    “Whatever this is can only cause problems for both of us.” But even as he said it, he pressed closer to her, pulled toward her by so many things: by the strength of heart he sensed; by the femininity encased in her warrior’s body, and by the temptation of the power swirling all around her, creating a bond he had never encountered before with anyone else.
    “I’m not the kind to run from a problem,” she said as she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, smoothing the short strands into place. The innocent action stoked alive more need and a sensation like static electricity against his scalp. As she quickly pulled away, it was a sign that she had sensed the effects of the power as well.
    “I kind of gathered that when you helped me in the parking lot,” he said with a chuckle, trying to downplay the way even minimal contact created a charge between them.
    “You handled yourself pretty well. You probably didn’t need my help.”
    He hesitated, contemplating just how much to tell her. Too much and he risked the secrets he and his father had kept for so long. Not enough and he maybe left her defenseless if the two men decided to come after her as well.
    He opted for disclosure, wanting to safeguard her as much as possible. “Actually, those men were like the two of us. Different.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not different. I’m—”
    She stopped as he ran the tip of his index finger along her lips and made it impossible to deny the sparks that flew from that contact and the way it roused an ache along her sex. The color of her eyes darkened to amber and she licked her lips nervously. “Why am I feeling this way?”
    “You have an aura. It’s stronger than any I’ve ever seen, except for possibly the two men from this afternoon,” he explained, and because he couldn’t stop touching her, he laid his hands on her bare arms, rubbed them up and down, which generated