Darkling Read Online Free PDF Page B

this sport Niles called boxing. After a
couple days sequestered in the private cocoon of his apartment, she’d forgotten
how sinister this world felt. Most of the time she’d been asleep, but there had
been many tender waking moments like their earlier exchange about the fossils.
Her pulse raced at the memory of their lovemaking.
    She gripped his shoulders, afraid to let him go back to the
ring.
    However, the sight of his tanned muscles gleaming with
moisture as he’d ducked and swerved and jabbed roused her. Her heartbeat had
quickened. Strange, prickly sensations ran over her breasts and the space
between her thighs grew wet and tingly. Seeing him in nothing more than a pair
of loose black shorts, her body reacted.
    His arms flexed around her and he dropped his lips to her
ear. “Vega, please. I’m sorry this is worrying you, but I’m really okay. Can
you let me do this fight? I promise we’ll leave afterward. I’ll forfeit the
other matches. My next opponent’s waiting for me, so I need to get in there.”
    She hid her face against his chest, wishing she were alone
with him so she could tell him everything. Could she even find the words?
    He continued to croon against her hair. Her world narrowed
to a small point. Suddenly the crowd vanished and she knew only Niles—his
arousing musk and the throb of his heart beneath her ear.
    She lifted her face. Without his glasses, his eyes appeared
more luminous, as if they reflected the night sky.
    Smoothing the pad of her thumb over his cheek, she wiped
away the blood. “I don’t like him hurting you,” she said again.
    A low groan vibrated his chest, sending shooting sparks of
need through her limbs. Need she now fully understood. She’d never experienced
such roiling feelings.
    He crushed her to him. “Damn, I shouldn’t have you here.
I’ll be finished in no time, Vega. Mischa’s supposed to come soon, but I’ll
have to call and let her know I’m bugging out early. Let me tell my manager.”
When he drew away, she wrapped her fingers around his thick biceps and held
him. The roped muscles jerked and trembled beneath her touch.
    Words of her native language streamed through her
consciousness, but she could not form them with these lips. Her mouth opened
and closed.
    His expression softened. Using his knuckles, he brushed an
errant curl off her forehead. “Sweetheart, what is it?”
    Suddenly the words formed in her mind and she was able to
speak them. “I don’t want you to stop fighting. You should stay. Your
friend…Mischa…she’s coming and you said you needed to talk to her.”
    “Yes, but I have you to think about too. Are you feeling
okay? Tired?”
    “Hey, Walker, you coming back for more? Another hook and
you’ll be on your ass, man!” The huge man leaned over the ropes and shot him a
jeering grin.
    A crooked smile stretched Niles’ lips. He held up one finger
and turned back to Vega.
    “What does that mean…you’ll be on your ass?”
    “Nothing. Honey, this is just for fun. Darien and I are
actually good friends. Shit, I didn’t realize how much you didn’t understand
when I brought you here. What was I thinking? Listen, I’m going to finish this
fight. By then Mischa should be here. After I talk to her, we’ll leave, I
promise.”
    “Promise.” She repeated the word, fixing it securely in her
growing vocabulary.
    “Oh sweetheart.” The soft words whooshed from him. His
eyelids fluttered shut as he coiled an arm around her waist and yanked her
against him again. “For days I’ve waited for you to wake long enough to hold a
conversation, and instead I’m here getting knocked around. What am I doing? I
shouldn’t even be touching you. But damn, woman, you undo me.”
    Tendrils of flame whipped through her core. She pressed her
nose against his big shoulder and enjoyed the salt beneath her lips. She
couldn’t make sense of boxing or why the crowd would be cheering for them to
hit each other, but in Niles’ hold, she felt