Read Online Out of the Dark by Megan Hart - Free Book Online

on his tongue. He winced, just a little, when the first swallow went down, then relished the warmth it spread into his guts.
    Celia, he noticed, wasn’t drinking. She swirled the amber liquid against the walls of the glass, then cupped her elbow in one hand to prop her arm as she held the glass to her bottom lip but didn’t sip from it.
    â€œI don’t like whiskey very much,” she said when she noticed him watching. “I’m more a tequila girl.”
    â€œI’ll drink yours.” Luke held out his glass, and she poured hers into it. He downed the rest of it and looked again at the bottle, then shook his head in mental admonition. It would leave him with a sour stomach in the morning, and little else.
    â€œAre you hungry?” Celia asked suddenly. “Because I could just about murder a slice of cheesecake right now.”
    His stomach rumbled in reply. When was the last time he’d eaten? A greasy burger and fries at a truck stop yesterday afternoon. After that, he’d gone on to find a new nest. He could still smell the gasoline. After that, he’d driven four hours to get here.
    â€œI have some leftover meat loaf, too,” she added, backing up toward the arch that led to the dining room. “Mashed potatoes. If you don’t eat them, they’ll just go to waste. Potatoes never taste as good after you freeze them, so I was going to throw them away.”
    He’d already followed her into the kitchen before he thought to ask her why she had so much food left over, if she wasn’t going to freeze it.
    Celia gave him another of those over-the-shoulder glances as she pulled food from the fridge and set it out on the table. “I had someone over for dinner.”
    Oh. Of course. He felt stupid for having asked. “It’s not really my business.”
    She paused in putting a ceramic bowl of mashed potatoes in the microwave. The beep as she pressed the control pad was very loud. Her shoulders had gone a little tense, but when she turned to face him, she wore a small smile. “No. I guess it’s not. But it’s not a secret either, Luke.”
    An image rose up in his mind of her sitting at this table—no, worse, at the dining room table where they’d made love that first time, with another man. Hot jealousy flooded him, ran along his nerves with the prickling tickle of a rat’s claws. When her gaze fell to his hands, he realized he’d fisted them at his sides. He forced himself to relax his fingers.
    â€œHis name’s Brian,” Celia said quietly. “He services copiers and fax machines. He drives a Honda.”
    â€œHe likes meat loaf?”
    The microwave beeped, and she used a dish towel to hold the bowl as she took it out and put it on the table. She stuck a spoon in it. Stirred. She looked up at him.
    â€œActually, he didn’t like it very much, that’s why there’s so much left over.”
    Luke stood, feeling his shoulders and back stiffen but unable to relax the way he’d done with his fists. “What would Brian think about me being here in the middle of the night to finish it off?”
    Celia pulled out her chair and sat. Her fork clinked on the edge of the plate as her elbow shifted it. She folded her hands under her chin to look up at him. “Well, I don’t really know, Luke. Because I’ve never told Brian about you.”
    â€œBut you told me about him.”
    She nodded.
    Something loosened inside him. Allowed him to sit. Whiskey sloshed in his belly, which growled at the smell of the food. It was a good smell, homey and humble, and it made him feel like maybe, just for a few minutes anyway, he could forget all the insane shit that had been going on in his life.
    They ate. Him with heaping spoons of potatoes, a thick slab of meat loaf, a couple crusty French rolls Celia pulled from a breadbox. She helped herself to a small slice of cheesecake, taking dainty bites and licking her