Read Online Tempt Me by R. G. Alexander - Free Book Online Page A

closed his eyes. “You could be speaking Japanese backward with a lisp and I’d be able to piece together what you’re talking about more clearly than I can now. Maybe I have a concussion.”
    “Oh, he’s funny. No one told me he was funny.” Bethany, apparently off the phone now, reappeared beside the bed.
    Gabriel’s lips twitched and he peered at her through his lashes. “Ouch.”
    She smiled. “Sorry. Any idea why I heard a voice telling me where to find my best friend’s brother?”
    BD laughed. “Do you see why I love her? She’s as direct as she is sexy.” He wrapped one arm around her waist and tugged her against him, lifting her shirt and kissing her stomach before she batted him away. She sent an apologetic glance to Gabriel, but there was no need. BD made his own rules, even without his previous abilities.
    The man sent Gabriel a wink. “How about we let him rest and heal for now, Blue Eyes? I see you’re dying of curiosity, as am I. Who is this man who seduced Rousseau’s sister and transformed into a Crescent City vigilante all in one night?” He stood and embraced his wife. “I know how hard it will be for you to restrain yourself from getting answers, but if you give me a chance, I will do my best to distract you until morning.”
    Bethany bit her upper lip, as though considering his offer. “Your best, huh?”
    BD slid a palm down to cup her hip, uncaring or no longer aware of his audience. “Yes. I’ll even do that one thing you love so much. Where I take your legs and—”
    Bethany placed a finger against his lips, stopping his words. But she couldn’t quite hide the expression of arousal and interest.
    The sensual intimacy of the look they shared was so un-apologetically loving, so honestly sexual, that it tore the breath from Gabriel’s lungs.
    He closed his eyes again, focusing on slowing his breathing so they would think he’d fallen asleep. He didn’t want to see any more of this.
    He remembered hearing his mother tell him about BD and Bethany’s unique love story. How they’d found each other with the help of the voodoo spirits. A match made in heaven, with Papa Legba and the Ghede family’s blessing.
    He’d been told by his teachers that his mother worshipped demons. But he hadn’t learned about matchmaking demons in catechism. Evil didn’t care about the happiness of a single man and woman. Evil didn’t create what Gabriel saw between Bethany and BD.
    Michelle and Ben were like that, too. What they felt for each other was so clear for the world to see, it was almost painful to watch.
    Was that love, then?
    His father had married again and again, and with each new woman he became a new man. His last wife, the hippie Wiccan, was the reason behind his father’s sudden change of heart. When he’d told Gabriel that he’d lied, that it had been his decision, not his mother’s, to take their son away... it had been a shock to Gabriel’s system.
    But his father’s spiritual epiphany had been more about pleasing his latest conquest than out of any concern for his son. Not love, just weakness.
    Women had professed to love Gabriel often enough through the years, women who were drawn to his family’s money or the air of authority he’d always had around him, but he didn’t think he’d ever truly seen it before. Not what he was seeing now.
    He heard their whispers, the footsteps heading toward the bedroom door, and the click as it shut behind them. He breathed a sigh of relief. He needed time to think about what had happened tonight.
    Black-eyed, ironfisted wild man? Was that what BD had said? Surely he hadn’t been referring to him. The last thing Gabriel had remembered, he was getting his ass kicked, with that mysterious darkness swirling around him, and Angelique on his mind. He hadn’t seen the monster BD had described.
    Had he become one?
    Emmanuel had said it wasn’t possession, but if not that, then what? And where had it come from? It seemed to have been