Cora's Secret: A Vampire Ménage Urban Fantasy Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

herself and went into the house. She put the helmet on one of the hooks by the garage door and stripped off her leathers. It was completely still in the house, which was normal and felt comforting.
    She could feel herself relaxing as she walked through the freshly painted butler’s pantry into the kitchen and the living room beyond, with its big bay window with white mullions and lace panels.
    Slowly, she walked upstairs, letting her mind rove through the dozen or so projects she currently had in progress. Should she settle into painting? Research fabric and designs for the drapes in the main bedroom? Or finish building the shelving in her walk-in wardrobe? She was still in the middle of stripping down the decades of vinyl wallpaper in the third bedroom, too, but that had a common wall with Meta’s house and scraping and tapping on the wall might wake her.
    Any woodworking at all had the potential for making noise. That left painting and on-line research into the other renovations and projects she itched to get to.
    The idea of sitting still didn’t appeal to her, even if her mind was completely occupied by pleasant thoughts.
    Painting it was, then.
    She changed into her paint-splattered overalls and went into the second bedroom, which was filled with drop cloth-covered mounds, ladders and the strong aroma of fresh paint. The dark teal on the walls needed a second coat to achieve the full saturation of color.
    She hovered with her hand over the light switch and considered the time. Everyone else was in bed. With a shrug, she left the light off. Silently, she picked up the roller and unwrapped the plastic around it and got to work.
    Painting was physical work, but after twenty minutes and two walls, she realized that it wasn’t distracting her thoughts the way she wanted it to. She kept finding herself standing with the roller in mid-air, as that hateful kiss played out in her mind all over again, while her heart boomed and her body tightened. Or else it was the moment with Rhys, while his lips had hovered over hers and she would wonder all over again if he really had wanted to kiss her, or had she just dreamed up that glass-shattering tension as a by-product of her own want?
    Annoyed, she made herself finish the last two walls, which had the door, closet and windows in them and needed finicky cutting-in detail. As soon as she was done, she wrapped up the roller and poured the excess paint back into the can with sharp movements.
    She was going to have to settle for research into new projects after all. At least stray thoughts wouldn’t intrude so often if she was making decisions about annuals and fruit trees.
    But thirty minutes later, as she clicked through images of French style courtyards, she found herself staring sightlessly at the screen, the mouse not moving, while her body throbbed. With a sigh, she got the mouse moving again.
    It was going to be a very long night.

Chapter Four
     
    By morning, Rhys was ready to dismiss the whole thing at the casino with Cora as a momentary thing. Maybe it was age. His hormones acting up. He didn’t know and he didn’t want to hash it out anymore. He had spent all night doing that, while trying to ease the ache in his body. He had woken feeling more drained and tense than ever.
    So he went into the office, even though there would only be skeleton crew on hand. It was Sunday and it was a perfect day and warm for mid-September. The lake was sparkling blue and the sky was cloudless. The leaves weren’t turning yet. It was like summer was lingering just for a little bit longer, which was fine by him. By noon, there would be hundreds of boats on the water and families on the foreshore barbecuing and picnicking.
    The gorgeous weather helped Rhys push aside last night’s madness. In the broad light of the day it seemed stupid. The piled up issues in his in-boxed helped to send the matter to the far back of his mind. Another missing person, this time a mother in her forties, who had