breasts,
teasing her nipples to hard nubs with his tongue, and then spreading her legs while he
mounted her made Michael want to smash a fist into the guy‟s face. His aura expanded,
flickering shards of dark red and black. He took a deep breath, pulling the negative
energy back in and neutralizing it with a spell. Balor fed off those kind of emotions—
would feel them across space— if Michael let his anger loose he would endanger
everyone around him.
Michael finished searching the small office with no luck. He shut off the lights
and went into the lobby. Dusk was already falling and Stephanie had gone home.
He had just switched on the ignition in his car when something red flashed across
the sky. This time he didn‟t need the police scanner to tell him what it was. Putting the car in drive, the tires squealed as he headed for Sophie‟s clinic.
* * * *
Sophie arched her back, stretching tired muscles, as she closed the door to the
kennel area. All the animals had been fed and had fresh water. Most were already curled up and snoozing contently. It had been a long day, but knowing that these dogs and cats, at least, would be comfortable and safe made the work worth it.
She‟d even managed to take Augustin for a good ride. It was odd how she could
relate to the horse, almost as if he understood everything she said. He‟d even nickered and tossed his head when she tried to explain how crazy her world had become.
She yawned as she sat down at her desk and checked the email. A couple of
adoption applications and the usual jokes and political comments of the day. She deleted a cutsy note from Robert. At least there were no nasty little queries about whether she
SWORD OF FIRE Cynthia Breeding 27
was insane or just out for publicity that had been coming in the past week. No crank
phone calls either, tying up her receptionist. The interview she had given Toby never
appeared in the paper and she had mixed feelings about that. It probably was not of that much interest since the media had moved on to other stories. She was a dim memory.
But she did remember what had happened. Try to deny it she might, but that
dragon had been real. Only Michael seemed to accept that.
Michael. She tried not to think about how her skin tingled at the mere brush of
his fingers or how his body heat had enveloped her while they were at the computer a few days ago—her traitorous body had waited in anticipation of his hands running over her
shoulders, down her arms and encircling her waist as he pulled her up against him….
Sophie toyed with a pencil absently. Michael had not touched her. Why would
she want him to? Physical attraction only led to disastrous results. For men, sex was a conquest and a carnal release of momentary passion. She had experienced that during her single years of dating more than once. For her, sex was an emotional investment—
putting her faith and trust in someone who would share all of his life with her. And she had thought Robert was the one. Even though he turned women‟s heads just walking
through a room, he had kept his attention riveted on her . He had said and done all the right things to make her feel special…. In the end, it had all been a sham. She had just been another trophy he wanted to acquire.
No, physical attraction needed to be restrained. Definitely.
Her hands stilled. Damn it. She could not deny that she was physically attracted
to Michael. Her body hummed when she saw him. When he got into her personal space,
she felt as though she were physically being pulled toward him. Like he was some big,
hunky magnet that she had no ability to step back from. Definitely dangerous.
Absolutely dangerous for her to even be thinking…
Sophie grabbed her dragon keychain and headed for the door. Enough of this
wool-gathering. It was already dark outside and she needed to head home. Tomorrow
morning, she would go to Mr. Smith‟s to take Princess‟ stitches out. Surely
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