Read Online Born to Darkness by Suzanne Brockmann - Free Book Online

took her time and he let her, just waiting as she looked into his eyes, as she brought her mouth up and softly brushed her lips against his.
    Shane closed his eyes—God, it was sweet—as he let himself be kissed again, and then again. And this time, she tasted him, her tongue against his lips. He opened his mouth, and then, Christ, it wasn’t sweet, it was pure hunger, white-hot and overwhelming, and he pulled her hard into his arms, even as she clung to him, trying to get even closer.
    The world could’ve exploded around him and he wouldn’t have cared. He wouldn’t have looked up—wouldn’t have stopped kissing her.
    And through all the layers of clothing, their jackets, their pants, his shorts, and whatever she had on beneath her cargo BDUs—God, he couldn’t wait to find out what she wore for underwear—Shane felt her stomach, warm and taut against his erection, and just that distant contact was enough to bring him teetering dangerously close to the edge.
    And by the time he made sense of that information and formed a vaguely coherent thought—holy shit, just kissing this woman was enough to make him crazy—it was almost too late.
    Almost. But only because she pulled away from him. She was laughing, her incredible eyes dancing as she looked up at him. As if she knew exactly what he was feeling.
    She held out her gloved hand for him, so he took it, and then—bad ankle be damned—she pulled him forward.
    And together, they started to run.

FOUR
    Anna’s cell phone rang at a little before midnight, and she dug through her backpack for it, even though it wasn’t Nika’s ring.
    The word
private
appeared on the phone’s tiny screen instead of a typical ten-digit number, and she took a deep breath before answering, half-dreading and half-hoping that Nika’s abductors were on the other end with their ransom demands.
    “This is Anna Taylor,” she said, hoping she sounded less exhausted and more in control than she was currently feeling, having repeatedly and fruitlessly walked the route from Cambridge Academy to the tiny studio apartment that she and Nika shared.
    Her breath hung in the cold night air as she closed her eyes, waiting, hoping …
    “Miss Taylor, this is Dr. Joseph Bach from the Obermeyer Institute. One of my colleagues informed me that you’ve filed a missing persons report for your sister, Nika?”
    Whoever he was, his voice was pleasant. It was evenly modulated, and it hinted at formal training—his elocution was quite good.
Moses supposes his toeses are roses. Singin’ in the Rain
, that old movie about old movies, was one of Nika’s favorites.
    Maybe Dr. Bach was an elderly man in good health, with still-excellent breath-control.
    But he’d asked her a question.
    “Yes, I did,” Anna answered quickly after that long and probablystrange pause. “My sister didn’t come home from school this afternoon. And yes, I know she hasn’t been missing for that long, and that she’s thirteen and capable of breaking rules, but she’s not …”
Normal
, she’d been about to say. But that made Nika seem like a freak, and she wasn’t. “Prone to going off the radar like this,” she said instead. “Not ever. She’s a good kid, and she knows I’ve made a lot of sacrifices for her to go to Cambridge Academy. She’s a scholarship student there. We’re not wealthy.”
    She emphasized that last bit, just in case he was one of those
citizen detectives
—the kind who’d snatched Nika up in the first place.
    “I’m aware of that,” he said. “I’m outside of your apartment, and I know you’re not here, that you’re probably still searching for your sister, but it’s important that you spare a moment to talk with me. If you tell me where you are I’ll—”
    “Do you know where Nika is?” Anna was just around the corner from her building, and she began walking again, picking up her pace.
    He hesitated. Just a little. “Not exactly.”
    “What does
that
mean?”
    Another pause.