Read Online These Boots Were Made for Stomping by Julie Kenner - Free Book Online

clung to him and the lights of the city twinkled beneath them, it was the sweetest kind
     of trouble. And if she’d set him back a week or two on his mission—well, sometimes payment could be delicious, too.
    Lydia was floating in the night sky, the stars as background and her head as light as a feather. Best of all, she was in her
     dream man’s arms.
    True, he’d been a teensy bit grumpy at first—not exactly sweeping her off her feet—but the reality was that he’d been as confused
     about her as she was about herself. Now, he’d both warmed up to her and was warming her up, because she’d never felt safer
     or more heated than she did at that particular moment with her arms tight around him, his body hard against hers, and the
     world whizzing by below.
    He shifted then, and her stomach rose all the way into her throat, then did a hard nosedive into her toes as he started a
     descent over her neighborhood. Had she told him where she lived? She tried to mentally push rewind, realized her brain was
     basically mush, but had a vague memory of him asking for details and her describing her apartment through an alcohol-and-lust-induced
     haze.
    “Did I get it right?” he asked, setting them down gently on the fire escape.
    “Wow,” she said, which pretty much took all of her effort. “Um, yeah.”
    “Wait here,” he said. Then he shot off into the sky while she stayed behind, looking stupidly up toward the stars.
    Less than a minute later, he was inside her apartment and pulling the window open. “How did you—? Never mind.” She decided
     against asking.
    “I like your place,” he said, and she smiled wryly.
    “I’m thinking I need to have the locks checked and an alarm system installed. You got in far too easily.”
    “Now you’re thinking like a mortal,” he said. “You’ve passed your test, right? You’re a Protector now.” He tapped his head.
     “I’m full-blooded, so I’ve grown up with it, but eventually you’re going to have to simply accept that the way things work
     for Protectors aren’t always the way things work for mortals.”
    “Believe me,” she said dryly, “I’m figuring that out.”
    She headed across her apartment and pulled a bottle of water from her tiny refrigerator, then offered one to him. “So what
     exactly were you doing that I messed up? I’m sorry about that,” she added quickly, her cheeks heating.
    He hesitated, and she felt her blush deepen. “I guess I shouldn’t be asking you those kinds of questions, right? For all you
     know, I’m working for the bad guys.”
    “For the record,” he said, “I don’t believe that. But you’re right about my needing to be careful. Hopefully you’ll never
     be on probation. Trust me when I say you have to watch yourself every step of the way.”
    “That’s okay,” she said. “I get it.” For that matter, she really did understand. She’d read enough complicated comic book
     plots to give her some idea of what she’d stumbled onto. “I thought you were trying to take that guy down, but that he’d somehow
     turned the tables on you. But it was all a ruse, and you’d planned on getting caught all along so that you could find his
     secret lair where he’s hatching his evil plot.” She waggled her eyebrows, then crossed her arms over her chest and looked
     up at him. “So, how’d I do?”
    He didn’t answer, but his lopsided grin was enough to tell her she was right on the mark.
    She licked her thumb and smashed it on her hip, then made a sizzling noise. “Am I good, or what?”
    “I have a feeling you’re very, very good.”
    She nodded her head, feeling bold, smug, and a little bit sexy. “Touché.” She moved to the couch and patted the cushion next
     to her, inviting him to join her. “So riddle me this, Batman. If this mission is so important, how come you’re here with me?
     My sparkling personality? Sexy legs? Keen fashion sense?” She blinked, a little amazed at her own gumption.