Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

the force of a volcano, shaking him. He felt stripped of his armor, vulnerable, broken open and entirely exposed. His hand slid inside his jacket to the familiar feeling of the butt of his Glock. The moment he touched the weapon, he knew he was in trouble.
    Judith Henderson threatened him on an elemental level. The danger was almost tangible, yet he was at a loss as to why. She had that same faraway, lost look on her face that was in the photograph he carried with him, next to his skin in the inside pocket of his shirt where he kept the small tablet that would end his life should he fall into the wrong hands. This woman was the type who brought men to their knees. Even the strongest man bared his soul, handed his heart into keeping and was lost for all time just from a smile from those angel lips. He could hold his breath just waiting for her to smile—at him—for him. Just him.
    He willed her to look up. To see him. He braced himself for the impact, knowing it was coming. Judith took two more unhurried steps in her high heels with that splash of tantalizing red streaking through the unrelenting black. His heart would have kicked into high gear if he’d allowed it, just at the anticipation of her gaze meeting his, but he was far too disciplined for that. He didn’t take his eyes from her, absorbing her into his being. God, she was beautiful.
    Her eyes flicked to the shadows and away again. Deliberately he shifted his weight. Her gaze jumped back to the alcove—to him. Her eyes widened, met his. His body reacted, blood rushing hotly through every vein, through his heart, spreading like a firestorm to settle in his groin. The shock of it, of that unrelenting, fierce ache, shook him. He was never out of control, his body completely disciplined, yet he was full and hard and throbbing with need, just with her eyes meeting his.
    This time, there was no controlling his wayward heart. Thunder roared in his ears, filling his head with warning, with need. Her gaze was more of a punch, hitting him low and wicked hard. She drove the breath from his lungs and sanity from his mind.
    If he opened his mouth, he doubted if sound would emerge. All of his training, all of his discipline was gone in one moment. Power surrounded the woman in her perfect suit on her perfect body. Innocence radiated from her. Brightness shone through all that soft skin. Yet there was unconscious seduction in every movement of her body, the way her lips were made for fantasy nights, those eyes, dark and mysterious like the woman herself.
    He could read that power she wore like a cloak just as easily as he could read the aura surrounding her. She hid her powerful energy, hid every dark shadow inside her, presented a different face to the world than what was deep inside of her. But he saw her—all of her—and he wanted what he saw. What man wouldn’t? This was a woman a man would never get out of his mind. He saw instantly why Jean-Claude La Roux was so obsessed. She crawled inside a man before he ever had a chance to run. Just with one smoldering look. That innocent seduction.
    Through it all, there was something else. Something much deeper that he reacted to. Elemental. Elusive. She was far more than that bright innocent seductress every other man would see and want. She was filled with sorrow. Lost. He wasn’t a hero. He wasn’t the man who stepped forward and saved the innocent. He was lost himself. Shadows had invaded a long time ago and stolen his life. But he would give anything he had left to be the man who found a way to save Judith Henderson. He wanted to be that man and it made no sense. She was a complete stranger, but that tiny piece of humanity left in him reached for this woman.
    “Mr. Vincent?”
    Her voice was as seductive as the rest of her. Velvet soft. Stroking over his skin like the touch of fingers. She was already inside of him. He could feel her there where he could never get her out.
    “Miss Henderson?” His accent was perfect. He was already firmly anchored in his role as Thomas Vincent, an American businessman recognized in the art world with enough credentials to impress anyone. Like any good cover, he’d worked on it for some time, in case he ever needed an American businessman. The art was easy enough, he had studied hard and with his ability to retain what he read, it was simple enough to pull out his extensive education and add it to the role he immersed himself in.
    Judith took another step toward him, her gaze