Out of the Dark by Megan Hart Page B

safe.”
    â€œAnd maybe I’ll cross the street tomorrow and get hit by a bus,” she said bitterly. “Can you save me from that? Can you save the world from every bad thing that’s ever happened or ever will?”
    He shook his head, but looked at her. “If I can, I have to try.”
    â€œI love you,” Celia said in a steady voice that didn’t shake or quaver, even as she felt everything inside her breaking. “If that means I have to wait for you to come around every few months and worry myself sick in between, then…I guess I’ll have to do that. If the only way to keep you, Luke, is to let you go…then go.”
    He nodded sharply. Just once. Then he pushed past her and out of the kitchen. She heard the front door open and close behind him. Celia leaned with both hands on her kitchen counter and again searched for tears that wouldn’t come. She had nothing left, her grief too much to bear while she was still recovering from everything that had happened. Later, she’d cry, she thought. She’d fill the tub with water as hot as she could stand, fill it with lavender bubbles, drink a glass of chilled white wine. She’d cry then, maybe until she made herself sick or sank beneath the bubbles to listen to the sound of her heartbeat in her own ears while the water closed over her head and she could pretend she was a mermaid far under the ocean.
    She didn’t hear the door open, but suddenly he was there and she was in his arms. He kissed her, mouth open, tongue sweet on hers. His hands pressed against her back, then one found its familiar place at the nape of her neck. They kissed for a very long time.
    When they stopped, he looked into her eyes. “I love you, Celia. I don’t want to leave you. I’m not sure what will happen, but…whatever it is, I want to face it with you.”
    She laughed, tipping her face back so he could kiss her mouth again. The motion hurt her muscles all over, but she didn’t care. “Take me to bed,” she told him.
    â€œWhat about breakfast?”
    â€œLater,” Celia breathed against his lips as he lifted her. “Take me to bed. Now, Luke.”
    And he did.

Don’t miss other sensual, paranormal reads from Harlequin Nocturne Cravings, available at www.ebooks.eharlequin.com and wherever ebooks are sold. Titles include:
    This Glamorous Evil by Michele Hauf
    Bitten by the Vampire by Bonnie Vanak
    Destined Mate by Katie Reus
    Looking for more paranormal romance? The sizzling and spine-chilling books of Harlequin Nocturne are available at www.Harlequin.com or your local bookstore.

ISBN: 978-1-4592-0997-8
    Out of the Dark
    Copyright © 2011 by Megan Hart
    All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
    All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
    All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author,