Damned and Desirable (Eternally Yours Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

arm out of socket in the process.
    “So sorry I’ve intruded on your time.” She pulled away from him, her shoulders almost as rigid as her ever-deepening frown. “When I heard my niece had arrived in Purgatory and, coincidentally, was acquainted with my former fiancé, I just had to see her for myself.”
    Former fiancé? O-my-freaking-gosh! Yeah, I had been working really hard on NOT calling His name out in vain. It was part of my new good girl persona. Although, at the moment, there were a few other choice words I was sorely tempted to scream while I was bashing Aedan’s face in.
    “Good day.” She held out a gloved hand and dipped down into a gentle curtsy. “It has been a pleasure.”
    I took her hand, again surprised by the strength. This time she gripped me even tighter, squeezing so tight I wondered if she meant to hurt me.
    “Thanks. Nice to meet you, too.” I smiled and pretended she wasn’t crushing my fingers while fighting the urge to fall down and cry “uncle.”
    Aedan mumbled something about sending her off as he slipped out the front door behind her. Raised voices echoed in the hallway. Though I couldn’t hear what they said, I imagined Aedan making apologies to his former fiancée for dating her great-niece. I also imagined him telling her she meant more to him than I ever could, I was just a casual fuck, and he’d never love a girl with frizzy hair. Oh, and I crapped my pants last week, too. Okay, maybe he wasn’t saying all those things, but of one thing I was certain. All this time I’d thought Aedan liked me for my clever mind, cute ass, and loyal disposition, but it turned out he was just pining over a ghost.

To say the ride back to Alpha House was awkward would have been the understatement of the century. Aedan offered no apologies or excuses, and I didn’t ask for them. Not that I didn’t want him to lie to me and tell me he’d fallen out of love with Mar decades ago, because it was clear he hadn’t. He’d already confirmed he still had feelings for her when he called me by her name in bed. Now what to do with this whole uncomfortable situation. He’d just moved out of the apartment he’d been living in for over a century to be with me. Could I end it with him now because I was jealous of a ghost? A ghost, I reminded myself, who was Aedan’s former fiancée. It still made my blood boil when I remembered how he told me he hadn’t the foggiest idea who Mar was. So not only was he disloyal, he was dishonest, too. Damn. And here I thought I’d found one of the few decent guys in Purgatory. Guess the only decent guy left was my dog.
    I didn’t wait for Aedan when the taxi dropped us off. I slammed the door behind me and raced toward the backyard. My boss, Shadow, said my black Lab had to stay in a kennel when I was away. Poor Jack hated his cage almost as much as I did, whining when I left him in there and looking at me with those big puppy dog eyes that were like two neon strobe lights flashing BAD MOMMY, BAD MOMMY. When I’d been a ghoster for Delta House, Jack was free to come and go as he pleased and sit on the furniture. I was afraid to leave a butt dent on the pristine Alpha House furniture, let alone allow Jack anywhere near it.
    Once I ducked underneath the branch of a tall pine and raced down the hill toward Jack’s kennel, he started barking. I couldn’t help but feel resentment toward Shadow for sticking him under this tree away from the house, as if his cage was too unsightly to sit beneath the expansive porch that shaded the entire backside of the old Victorian mansion. Jack was doing his happy, spinny dance by the time I reached him, and as soon as I let him out, he mowed me down with sloppy kisses while his tail slapped the metal bars of his prison.
    I had no idea why he stayed loyal to me, why he loved me and continued to be my dog even though he could have reincarnated as a human years ago. He didn’t deserve to suffer this kind of neglect, and damn me for