Read Online Hunger Embraced (The Hunger Series) by Jennifer James - Free Book Online Page B

around, deprived! He smiled, turning up his infuriatingly charming, surfer-boy grin.
    “It’s my candy this time.” He returned to the pantry and reached into the back of one of the shelves and produced a bag. It dangled from his long fingers—temptation in reach. Jelly beans. Good jelly beans. “Let me cook and you can have this.”
    I lurched for the bag, but he held it back out of my reach. The spatula was extended halfway before I thought too hard about it. I retreated to the small dinette table against the wall and settled in to watch him clean up my mess and take over cooking.
    “I didn’t think vampires ate food.” I picked up the requisite colors to make a root beer float and munched happily.
    “Of course we do. We’re alive, so we eat. You eat.” He didn’t look in my direction as he replied, instead focusing on the bacon.
    “I’m not a vampire. I’m vampire food. My dad was a vamp, true, but my mom was just a human groupie with a hard-on for fangs. When did you buy these?” I waved the bag of jelly beans around for emphasis.
    “The other morning. After I left your place.”
    “Ah, so you were going to bribe me with candy the next time you saw me?”
    He grinned, and I smiled back.
    “I thought the idea had merit.”
    “Mmmm.” I popped a few fruity bites of heaven in my mouth and chewed.
    He delivered a mug of tea, a tiny porcelain pitcher of milk, and a matching sugar bowl to the table, setting each down with precise movements. Life was good.
    I watched while he drained and chopped the bacon, sprinkled it on the pizza, and slid it into the oven. Damn, he was fine. His ass filled out the back of his shorts, and I resisted the urge to run across the room and bite it.
    “What did your father tell you about vampires?” He crossed his arms and leaned against the counter, and I had to look down at my bag of jelly beans so I wouldn’t stare. He made it awfully hard to concentrate.
    “What does your tattoo mean?” The tea was as delicious as the aroma advertised, and I finished half the mug before I looked up to see him eyeballing me. Warmth spread through my muscles and I sighed, shifting around in the chair. “What is in this tea anyway? It tastes awfully familiar.”
    “It’s the same you have at your home. I left it for you the other morning. It has a few…special ingredients. Gives a pick-me-up. Answer my question, and I’ll answer yours.”
    “Truthfully and fully?” I had the feeling he’d answer my questions, but only so far as it suited him.
    “The truth as fully as I can.” He crossed his feet at the ankles.
    Huh, well it didn’t mean complete disclosure, but at least he wouldn’t hold back things unless forced to by some outside influence. Interesting. The plot thickened.
    “My father told me very little about vampires. I usually only saw him on my birthday when he would have me to his house for brunch. He never ate in front of me, and neither did any of his people. Solid food was not something we ever discussed.”
    “And…”
    “He told me most of the human myths are just that, myths. He told me I was a Chosen Childe, whatever that means, and I am meant to feed hungry vamps sexually and otherwise.” I picked out four or five fruity jelly beans and chewed them one at a time. “Uh, he told me there are several courts throughout the world, and most vamps live secretly among humans. There is more than one type of vamp, and usually they like to live with like vamps.”
    Daniel studied the floor until I shifted in my chair, tucking my heels up off the tile and wishing for socks. Whether from Daniel’s frigid air conditioning—which was weird for fall—or my nerves, I didn’t know, but my toes were seriously cold.
    Daniel cleared his throat. “That’s all he told you?” A quizzical frown creased his unlined forehead as I popped more sugary goodness into my mouth.
    “Pretty much. Unless you want to get into the fight we had on my birthday, and I don’t. I figured