Blood Ties Read Online Free PDF Page B

dragged his fingers through
his hair. The only way to preserve his sanity was to make her
self-sufficient as fast as he could, and then run like hell. He’d
started over before and he could do it again. Would do it again
now.
    Gentle fingertips traced down his spine,
jolting him from his thoughts. “Come to bed,” Kira murmured,
caressing his hip. “The dawn’s breaking.”
    And even though he cursed his weakness, Orion
couldn’t make himself pass up the pleasure of falling to the bed
beside her and holding her close as she succumbed to the day sleep,
her head on his shoulder.
     
     
*~*~*
     
     
    Orion was already dressed by the time Kira
awakened. She stretched luxuriously, either unconscious or uncaring
that the movement sent the bedding sliding down to her waist and
exposed her soft, luscious breasts to his view.
    Determined not to repeat last night’s
mistakes, he turned away and threw a shopping bag at her. “Put that
on,” he said, his voice considerably gruffer than he’d
intended.
    “Good morning to you too,” she said, a hint
of humor in her tone. “Wake up on the wrong side of the
coffin?”
    Damn it, he couldn’t take her teasing, not
now, but the stinging retort that would wipe the cheer from her
voice didn’t come no matter how he tried to force it out. Giving
up, he merely held his tongue and tried not to imagine her standing
behind him, wearing only her bare skin.
    The sooner she hid that gorgeous body under
layers of material, the better.
    He heard cloth sliding over skin, the soft
whisper of the zipper. “Where’d you get these jeans? They’re the
perfect size,” she said as she padded around to stand in front of
him. “How’d you know?”
    In truth, he’d read it off the tag during one
of the many times he’d stared at her ass, but there was no way she
needed to know that. The Nighthawks had allowed him to send one of
their Associates to shop for Kira that day, outfitting her with
everything from shoes to lingerie. “Lucky guess,” he replied
shortly. He handed her a new pair of shoes and tried not to notice
the cleavage revealed by her new top. “Ready to go?”
    “Where are we going?”
    “Anywhere the Nighthawks aren’t.”
    She shook her head as she slipped her feet
into the clogs. “You never would tell me what you have against
them,” she said. “Vampire secrets and all that. Can I know now, or
do I have to learn the secret handshake first?”
    That was a memory he wouldn’t revisit, not
even for her. He turned toward the door. “No. Now if you’re quite
finished, it’s time to move on.”
    “Wait.”
    He stopped but didn’t face her. “What?”
    Kira stepped around him again until she was
between him and the exit. Reaching up with both hands, she pulled
him down and kissed him softly. Her lips, full and lush and
unbearably sweet, were almost the last temptation he could stand.
His fists clenched to keep from hauling her against him and
thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth.
    She
pulled away after only a moment. “That’s how I want to start my
evening,” she murmured, then released him and stepped away.
“ Now I’m ready to go.”
    This time it was easy not to reply. He wasn’t
sure his voice was even working.
    Kira let Orion lead her from the room they’d
shared with a pang of loss. No matter what happened, she would
never forget the time they’d spent there. Orion’s distance hurt,
but she refused to let that dampen her spirits. He was still with
her and he’d held her all day long. She had time to tease him out
of this rotten mood and reveal the hot lover he hid inside, the
side of him she’d never expected to see.
    “Tonight I’ll teach you to feed on your own,”
he said, shattering her thoughts. “With luck you’ll pick it up
quickly. Soon you won’t need me at all.”
    She stumbled. Surely he wasn’t serious.
“Orion, I don’t want to feed from anyone else.”
    He merely shrugged at the distress in her
tone. “I’m not a