better off leaving her to the state.
If her parents had really loved her, they would have made sure she was properly taken care of in case the worst happened. Which it had. Right? That’swhat love was. Taking care of someone, no matter what.
The way Sean’s taking care of you now?
No,
she almost said aloud. He was taking care of her, yes, but it wasn’t because he loved her and wanted the best for her.
Does that mean I want something permanent? No,
he’d said. He was doing his job. Still, a shiver left a trail of goose bumps all over her body. To be loved by him . . .
Stupid,
she thought again. She shouldn’t want him like this. She’d had him. His taste and feel were no longer a mystery. She should be able to shove him to the back of her mind, use him to stay alive as he’d planned to use her, and then forget about him. Instead, she only wanted him more. Wanted more of that heated touch. More of that hot, wet tongue. More of that raspy voice telling her how beautiful she was, how sweet she tasted, how anything she wanted done to her would be done.
“You like me; admit it,” he said, turning in his seat to stare out at the homes. His intense gaze missed nothing, she was sure.
“Your subject change didn’t last long. And anyway,
I
don’t know anything about
you
. Anything true, that is. You told me Sean is your real name, but I don’t see how it can be. You’re an undercover agent.”
“There’s no record of me anywhere, so I can use my real name with no worry of exposure. You can even shout it out in pleasure. Oh, wait. You’ve already done that. As for getting to know me, I’m—”
“I never said I
wanted
to know you,” she said, cutting him off. The more she knew, the harder it would be to distance herself from him.
“I’m thirty-five years old,” he said anyway. “I’venever been married, I have a secret obsession for Twix candy bars, not that I’ve let myself indulge lately, and my favorite color is now brown. Gold, really, or maybe you call your eyes amber.”
She gulped.
Damn him.
He kept doing that, and men just didn’t say things like that to her. Not usually. Especially men who’d already gotten her into bed. Not that there’d been legions. Those she
had
allowed in her bed she’d wanted more for companionship and warmth than anything else. To feel normal, for once. To pretend they were happy and had forever. Not all of them had been concerned with her pleasure. And yet leaving each one of them had been tough.
How much tougher would it be with Sean?
“Your eyes,” Sean prompted.
“I call them brown.” It was the only thing she could think to say. And had her voice really been that breathless?
“As for the more meaningful stuff,” he continued, “I was raised by my dad. My mom was never part of my life. Dad was very strict, very demanding, and very intolerant. He had to be, I guess, or I might have given over to my dark side.”
“The shadows?”
You don’t want to know, remember?
He nodded.
“Do they want you to do bad things or something?”
There you go again.
Oh, shut up,
she told herself.
“Nothing like that. They just want me with them. Always. And sometimes I want to be with them. The only problem is, shadows are naturally hungry. Because they are cold, they crave people, body heat. They want to wrap around those near them so inexorably,light can never enter, and that tends to drive people insane.”
He’d said the last with a quick peek in her direction. To judge her reaction? Did he hope to frighten her? “I’ve lived my entire life in the dark. That doesn’t scare me.” And, too, being lost in the dark with Sean didn’t seem like such a bad thing. The things they could do to each other . . .
Stupid,
she thought. Yet again.
He grinned. “Good to know.”
“That doesn’t mean I like you,” she rushed out.
His grin didn’t waver as the garage door to the house next to Bill’s suddenly opened. Out came a black Lexus. The driver, a
If her parents had really loved her, they would have made sure she was properly taken care of in case the worst happened. Which it had. Right? That’swhat love was. Taking care of someone, no matter what.
The way Sean’s taking care of you now?
No,
she almost said aloud. He was taking care of her, yes, but it wasn’t because he loved her and wanted the best for her.
Does that mean I want something permanent? No,
he’d said. He was doing his job. Still, a shiver left a trail of goose bumps all over her body. To be loved by him . . .
Stupid,
she thought again. She shouldn’t want him like this. She’d had him. His taste and feel were no longer a mystery. She should be able to shove him to the back of her mind, use him to stay alive as he’d planned to use her, and then forget about him. Instead, she only wanted him more. Wanted more of that heated touch. More of that hot, wet tongue. More of that raspy voice telling her how beautiful she was, how sweet she tasted, how anything she wanted done to her would be done.
“You like me; admit it,” he said, turning in his seat to stare out at the homes. His intense gaze missed nothing, she was sure.
“Your subject change didn’t last long. And anyway,
I
don’t know anything about
you
. Anything true, that is. You told me Sean is your real name, but I don’t see how it can be. You’re an undercover agent.”
“There’s no record of me anywhere, so I can use my real name with no worry of exposure. You can even shout it out in pleasure. Oh, wait. You’ve already done that. As for getting to know me, I’m—”
“I never said I
wanted
to know you,” she said, cutting him off. The more she knew, the harder it would be to distance herself from him.
“I’m thirty-five years old,” he said anyway. “I’venever been married, I have a secret obsession for Twix candy bars, not that I’ve let myself indulge lately, and my favorite color is now brown. Gold, really, or maybe you call your eyes amber.”
She gulped.
Damn him.
He kept doing that, and men just didn’t say things like that to her. Not usually. Especially men who’d already gotten her into bed. Not that there’d been legions. Those she
had
allowed in her bed she’d wanted more for companionship and warmth than anything else. To feel normal, for once. To pretend they were happy and had forever. Not all of them had been concerned with her pleasure. And yet leaving each one of them had been tough.
How much tougher would it be with Sean?
“Your eyes,” Sean prompted.
“I call them brown.” It was the only thing she could think to say. And had her voice really been that breathless?
“As for the more meaningful stuff,” he continued, “I was raised by my dad. My mom was never part of my life. Dad was very strict, very demanding, and very intolerant. He had to be, I guess, or I might have given over to my dark side.”
“The shadows?”
You don’t want to know, remember?
He nodded.
“Do they want you to do bad things or something?”
There you go again.
Oh, shut up,
she told herself.
“Nothing like that. They just want me with them. Always. And sometimes I want to be with them. The only problem is, shadows are naturally hungry. Because they are cold, they crave people, body heat. They want to wrap around those near them so inexorably,light can never enter, and that tends to drive people insane.”
He’d said the last with a quick peek in her direction. To judge her reaction? Did he hope to frighten her? “I’ve lived my entire life in the dark. That doesn’t scare me.” And, too, being lost in the dark with Sean didn’t seem like such a bad thing. The things they could do to each other . . .
Stupid,
she thought. Yet again.
He grinned. “Good to know.”
“That doesn’t mean I like you,” she rushed out.
His grin didn’t waver as the garage door to the house next to Bill’s suddenly opened. Out came a black Lexus. The driver, a
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