Dark Daze Read Online Free PDF Page B

stared, transfixed, an
eternity within a moment, unable to breathe. A long sniffing came
from the direction of the shadow.
    Taking a step back, Ian lifted a hand toward
the menace. His skin tingled. Blue arcs snapped along his
fingertips, and he curled his hands into balls to repress the
current.
    “Shit.” Ian turned, like a six-year-old boy
afraid of the boogeyman, and raced to the house with Buster at his
side. He stumbled over the steps. His knees crashed into the edge
of the stair, sending sparks of pain through his kneecaps. He
scrambled to his feet and through the door. Once inside, he leaned
against the solid wood, sweat covering his forehead and palms, and
took deep, gulping breaths.
    When Ian’s breathing had slowed, he shook his
head to clear it. Had he actually been fleeing from the
boogeyman…the shadows and his own imagination? It had been a long
time since he’d behaved that way, and he was a little ashamed of
himself for his weakness.
    He’d crackled.
    Two long strides took him to the window.
Please God, don’t let anyone be standing there with wide eyes and
an open mouth. He peered out, and the road was empty as far as the
eye could see.
    Ian’s muscles twitched one last time then
relaxed. He went into the bathroom to take a shower and clean the
lingering sweat and fear from his skin. Otherwise, his date would
take one look—or sniff—and go running. As he shut the door to the
small bathroom, Buster sat in the entryway, keeping vigil against
the shadows beyond.



Chapter Three
 
    The wooden face of Amanderos nestled among
the trees near Apple Valley. Brie hadn’t been inside before, but
the idea of a Mexican/Italian bar and grill that booked metal bands
on Saturday nights had always intrigued her. Her date choosing this
place, of all places, intrigued her even more. A traditional guy
with a wild streak, what an entertaining concept.
    She moved through the lantern-lit room and
sat at the bar. The drawn shades gave the illusion of evening as
she searched the faces. They hadn’t exchanged descriptions, and
Mandy’s sole account had been of his great butt. Fat lot of help
that would be. She glanced at her watch: a minute after six.
Several men sat alone in the crowded restaurant. The blond at the
bar held his i-com and smiled intimately at the table. He wasn’t
looking for someone. The person he spoke with was his love.
    A short, red-haired man in a business suit
waved to the bartender and told him he wanted the special. Nope. A
sandy-haired man sat in a nearby booth, watching her. She smiled
when she caught his eye. He nodded to her. She flipped her long
hair back from her shoulder, smoothed her skirt, and stopped,
halfway off the chair.
    A man walked into the room, and the air fled
in his presence replaced by crackles of electricity. His broad
chest and muscular arms didn’t scream realtor, but something drew
her to him like gravity to the earth, though she wasn’t
intentionally using her intuition. He had a masculine power in the
swing of his arms and shoulders. It struck her as extremely erotic.
Her lungs quaked, and she drew the first breath in far too
long.
    For a second time, she smoothed her skirt
over her round thighs, desperately hoping he would like her new
dress. Strange that she should wish he liked her before she even
knew who this man was.
    Besides, it wasn’t like he was the most
gorgeous man she’d ever seen. His nose was a touch too narrow, and
his eyes a bit too large, but Mandy was right. He had something
special, something luminous about him. It buried her so she
couldn’t move, even after her i-com began to ring in her purse,
called by the one he lifted to his ear.
    When he walked over to her and smiled, she
almost dropped back into the chair. The smile. The one from her
dreams. She didn’t have premonitions, so it couldn’t be, but it
seemed like it was there, in the flesh. She grinned her brightest
and gestured toward a nearby stool.
    Oh God. She would have to lie to