Dating for Demons Read Online Free PDF Page B

the high road and apologize?” I struggled to sit upright and watch my aunt walk toward the kitchen.
    “Why, because you’re the Protector, my dear. And you’re usually wrong,” she added before disappearing from my sight.
    I threw myself back down against the sofa and folded my arms petulantly across my chest.
    “I am not usually wrong,” I muttered to myself, stewing in resentment. I took a moment to rethink the evening and realized we would probably never see the mysterious Hunter again so it wouldn’t kill me to let Piper believe she had a shot. The guy had gallantly helped us out and hadn’t done anything remotely improper.
    “Oh, crap,” I said to no one in particular.
    “Talking to yourself again?” Piper surprised me by rounding the couch and plopping down on the fluffy chair.
    “Always.” I smiled at her.
    “What? No one will listen to you?” She smirked at me, halfway between being serious and joking.
    I winced. “Okay, maybe he’s just a nice guy playing Good Samaritan. But he’s not all that he seems.”
    “What do you mean? Just because he happened to be in the garage right after the attack, automatically he is an evil bloodsucker?”
    “Well, no, he’s not a vampire. But he was following me all day when I was shopping. Even bought a pair of glasses from the Sunglass Hut when I stared at him.”
    Piper raised her eyebrows in question. “He bought a pair of sunglasses and that makes him trouble?”
    “No, of course not. What makes him trouble is that he was everywhere I was. In the same stores.”
    “Downtown has exactly two main department stores next to a small mall. You’re bound to see the same people shopping in such close quarters,” she reasoned.
    “But why shop where I was shopping? Why not spread out a little and go down one of the streets? There are tons of little shops up and down that area.”
    “Why didn’t you?” she countered craftily.
    “Because I was meeting you and everything I wanted to look at was right there.” She shot me a knowing look and I fortified my position. “That doesn’t mean he wasn’t following me!”
    “Sure, Colby, the hot guy was following you. He couldn’t possibly have his own shopping to do. It was all about you.”
    “Hey, that’s not fair!”
    Piper stood up and towered over me, her dark eyes flashing. “No, it’s not fair, Colby. Not to Hunter and certainly not to me. It isn’t always about you, ya know. Not everything in the world revolves around this stupid Prophesy and vampire half-bloods and the whole Undead thing. Sometimes it’s just about a nice guy being in the wrong place at the right time.”
    I looked at her incredulously. “Surely you’re not that naïve.”
    Piper threw up her hands and marched out of the house, throwing open the front door with gusto, practically stomping over Thomas in her rage to leave.
    Thomas stepped into the House and looked at me in surprise. “Trouble in paradise?” he guessed.
    “Nothing I can’t handle. I think. We were attacked by some vampires tonight.”
    “You okay?” he asked, without his usual tirade about being more careful.
    “Yeah, I slipped and broke my kneecap but I think it’s healed now.” I stood up and put some weight on it experimentally. There was a dull ache, but it held so I was almost good as new.
    He plopped himself down in the seat Piper had just vacated and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. “You forgot to drop and roll again?”
    I glared at him. Thomas, at least the Thomas I knew , would normally have been all over me for details about the vampires. How many? Where did they attack? What did they want? Et cetera. This guy practically falling asleep in a fluffy chair (chairs he hated, BTW) was someone I barely recognized.
    First of all, he wasn’t driving me crazy with undue concern. Secondly, he looked terrible. My man was beautiful to look at. This guy was a mess. His clothes were rumpled like he’d slept in them, his hair was sticking up all