Read Online Haunted by Jeanne C. Stein - Free Book Online
Authors: Jeanne C. Stein
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy, Contemporary, Vampires, Occult & Supernatural, Urban Life, Strong; Anna (Fictitious Character)
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to him. “Tonight is for us.”
Then we’re kissing and one thing leads to another. We don’t make it upstairs to the bed this time, the couch in the living room is convenient and comfortable.
He is right about one thing. The sex Stephen and I have is certainly remarkable. Maybe the best sex ever.
You haven’t given Frey a chance. That damnable voice is back. It’s been too long. You thought sex with him was pretty damn good, too.
I almost say shut the fuck up, out loud, until I catch myself.
And then Stephen is busy with fingers and tongue and I don’t have to.
CHAPTER 12
S TEPHEN HAS JUST LEFT TO SEE HIS SISTER AND I’M suffering from sensory overload. His smell fills my nostrils, the warmth of lovemaking and feeding sends heat to my skin.
Still, I didn’t get up to see him out. I couldn’t. Very little sleep and a body numb from a lot of sex leaves me inert, snuggled under the covers while Stephen jumps out of bed, showers, and takes off with the promise to be back before dark.
Where is he getting the energy? A day in transit to get home, a night of energetic lovemaking, very little food, no coffee even, and he’s bright and chipper and whistling his way out the door.
Probably from his excitement about this new job offer, my little voice replies.
And I think it’s right. While Stephen didn’t push for a commitment from me, he did manage to work into every conversation how great it could be for us in Washington. If he sensed my lack of enthusiasm, he didn’t mention that, either.
It might have been better if he had. It might have been better to make me put into words just what it is that has me so ambivalent about something he wants so much.
What would I have said? How could I have made him understand how impossible it would for me to hide my true nature in such a media-saturated city? Especially as the consort of a high-profile reporter?
I couldn’t.
I pull a pillow over my head and stifle a groan.
The telephone on the bedside table rings. I toss the pillow aside and reach for the receiver. “Hello.”
“Anna, it’s Max.”
Great. “What’s up?”
“Have you talked to Culebra?”
“Not since Christmas Eve.”
“You hurt his feelings, you know.”
“I hurt his feelings? How? By being shocked to find out about his past?”
Max answers with a hiss into the receiver so pregnant with recrimination, it’s like a slap.
Maybe because I’m tired, maybe because my head swims with too many uncertainties about my own life, maybe because I’m looking for an excuse to vent, the words spew out. “So, Max, tell me. What should I have done? Pat him on the shoulder and say it’s all right that he was an assassin? That it’s all right that he killed indiscriminately on the orders of a drug lord? That it’s all right that it led to the massacre of his own family? Just tell me. What is the proper reaction?”
“So you’re going to write him off?” Max’s heated reply comes just as quickly. “Just like that. You can be such a bitch, you know that, Anna? He’s done a lot for you. Made it possible for you to pretend to be human as long as you have. Kept you from turning into a predator. Without Culebra in your life, where do you think you’d be now? Probably dead—oh, excuse me, really dead because you’d have had the Revengers after you the first time you left a corpse. Yeah, there are vampire hunters out there, remember? And I swear to god, right now I have half a mind to turn you over to them myself.”
“Jesus, Max—”
He cuts me off in midsentence. “Save it.”
And disconnects.
Whoa.
I stare at the receiver in my hand.
Since when has Max become Culebra’s champion? I’m tempted to call him back, remind him that he has a strange attitude for someone who works for an agency whose main purpose is to put narcos out of business. Culebra helped him do that job once, okay, but that doesn’t balance the scales. How could Max think that it did?
And what in the hell does he
Then we’re kissing and one thing leads to another. We don’t make it upstairs to the bed this time, the couch in the living room is convenient and comfortable.
He is right about one thing. The sex Stephen and I have is certainly remarkable. Maybe the best sex ever.
You haven’t given Frey a chance. That damnable voice is back. It’s been too long. You thought sex with him was pretty damn good, too.
I almost say shut the fuck up, out loud, until I catch myself.
And then Stephen is busy with fingers and tongue and I don’t have to.
CHAPTER 12
S TEPHEN HAS JUST LEFT TO SEE HIS SISTER AND I’M suffering from sensory overload. His smell fills my nostrils, the warmth of lovemaking and feeding sends heat to my skin.
Still, I didn’t get up to see him out. I couldn’t. Very little sleep and a body numb from a lot of sex leaves me inert, snuggled under the covers while Stephen jumps out of bed, showers, and takes off with the promise to be back before dark.
Where is he getting the energy? A day in transit to get home, a night of energetic lovemaking, very little food, no coffee even, and he’s bright and chipper and whistling his way out the door.
Probably from his excitement about this new job offer, my little voice replies.
And I think it’s right. While Stephen didn’t push for a commitment from me, he did manage to work into every conversation how great it could be for us in Washington. If he sensed my lack of enthusiasm, he didn’t mention that, either.
It might have been better if he had. It might have been better to make me put into words just what it is that has me so ambivalent about something he wants so much.
What would I have said? How could I have made him understand how impossible it would for me to hide my true nature in such a media-saturated city? Especially as the consort of a high-profile reporter?
I couldn’t.
I pull a pillow over my head and stifle a groan.
The telephone on the bedside table rings. I toss the pillow aside and reach for the receiver. “Hello.”
“Anna, it’s Max.”
Great. “What’s up?”
“Have you talked to Culebra?”
“Not since Christmas Eve.”
“You hurt his feelings, you know.”
“I hurt his feelings? How? By being shocked to find out about his past?”
Max answers with a hiss into the receiver so pregnant with recrimination, it’s like a slap.
Maybe because I’m tired, maybe because my head swims with too many uncertainties about my own life, maybe because I’m looking for an excuse to vent, the words spew out. “So, Max, tell me. What should I have done? Pat him on the shoulder and say it’s all right that he was an assassin? That it’s all right that he killed indiscriminately on the orders of a drug lord? That it’s all right that it led to the massacre of his own family? Just tell me. What is the proper reaction?”
“So you’re going to write him off?” Max’s heated reply comes just as quickly. “Just like that. You can be such a bitch, you know that, Anna? He’s done a lot for you. Made it possible for you to pretend to be human as long as you have. Kept you from turning into a predator. Without Culebra in your life, where do you think you’d be now? Probably dead—oh, excuse me, really dead because you’d have had the Revengers after you the first time you left a corpse. Yeah, there are vampire hunters out there, remember? And I swear to god, right now I have half a mind to turn you over to them myself.”
“Jesus, Max—”
He cuts me off in midsentence. “Save it.”
And disconnects.
Whoa.
I stare at the receiver in my hand.
Since when has Max become Culebra’s champion? I’m tempted to call him back, remind him that he has a strange attitude for someone who works for an agency whose main purpose is to put narcos out of business. Culebra helped him do that job once, okay, but that doesn’t balance the scales. How could Max think that it did?
And what in the hell does he
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