Read Online First Taste of Darkness by Cynthia Eden - Free Book Online

secure, isn’t it? Because, boss, you know I’ve said…one day, that diamond could be the death of you.”
    “No, it won’t be,” Blake said. His voice growled from behind her. “The Heart is safe. Go get some rest, Carson. You need it.”
    Carson nodded. His hand slipped down as he opened the door. Then he was gone.
    Slowly, Jess turned to face Blake.  “Jeremiah Finn?”
    “You don’t want to know about him.”
    “But you get to ask about my secrets.”  Her fingers pressed lightly into his arms. “Why shouldn’t I get to know yours?” 
    “Because, baby, I don’t think your secrets are the kind that can get you killed.” 
    Her stomach clenched. 
    “I’m not the man you think…” He pulled away from her with a weary sigh.  “You don’t want to know who I really am.”
    Blake began to climb the stairs.
    Jess didn’t move. Her gaze locked only on his back as she said, “I like to know exactly who I’m sleeping with.”
    She saw his shoulders tighten.
    “It’s a little quirk I have,” she added. 
    Blake glanced back over his shoulder at her.
    Jess lifted her chin. “I was raised by a single mother. I never knew my father, and I spent most of my life pretending that he was dead. It was easier for me to believe that story, easier for me to
tell
that story to others…instead of just accepting that he never wanted me. That he ran as soon as he found out that my mother was pregnant.”
    Blake shifted his body, moving to fully face her once more. He’d stopped on the third step. 
    “My mother was a good woman.  Strong, but sad—sad her whole life. A sadness that I could see in her eyes.  She wanted more for me, more than what I had. She sent me to college, but she died before I graduated.” The pain of her mother’s sudden passing still knifed through her.  “She died, and I was alone, and I hated that.” 
    Blake advanced toward her. “Jess…”
    “I grew up dirt poor in the middle of Alabama. I took my degree, I took the talent I had, and I moved to my paradise.” Her lips twisted. “I made my own life there. And, except for my screw-up with Joe, I’ve been pretty happy. I’ve had three lovers.  I’ve ridden out a dozen hurricanes, and I
don’t
spend any of my time looking to the past. Instead, I focus on what’s coming next for me.”
    He shook his dark head. “You shouldn’t have come into that bar…”
    Her laugh was bitter. “That’s the same thing my kidnapper said. Wrong place and wrong—”
    Blake wrapped his hands around her shoulders. “I wanted you from the moment that I saw you. The light hit your hair—you seemed to fucking glow standing there. So perfect. And too good for me.”
    “Blake—”
    “I have enemies. So many of them. You know why? Because I don’t play by the rules. I never have. I lie, I cheat, I steal.  I’ve done it all because I had to do it in order to survive. My mother OD’d when I was seven. My father dumped me at the first hospital he could find, and he never looked back.” Blake’s eyes blazed down at her. “As far as I was concerned, he
was
dead after that. I didn’t need him. I didn’t need anyone.”
    She didn’t think he realized just how tightly he was holding her.  His eyes were so full of emotion. A barely banked green fire.
    “Jeremiah Finn.” Blake growled the name.  “He was a jewel thief, one who didn’t care who he hurt during his heists. He’d killed three people by the time I met up with him.”
    Her throat was so dry. It hurt when she swallowed and asked, “Met up?”
    “Told you…” His hands fell away from her. “I’ve lied. I’ve cheated. And I’ve stolen. I helped Finn take the Heart. We were supposed to be partners, but when he tried to make me victim fucking four, when he tried to use his knife to slice open my throat—”
    Like father, like son?
    “Finn was the one who died, and I got away.”
    A shiver slid over her body. “With the Heart.”
    A grim nod. “Just a piece of that