Deep Within The Shadows (The Superstition Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

car. “Run, baby! Run!!”
    Miranda stumbled into a lope. Caleb clamped an arm around her waist and half-ran, half-carried her around the corner. Midway up the block, he darted into the dark alcove of an apartment entrance. Through the dingy glass in the door, a dull light shone like an amber theatre gel. His arms tightened around her and he touched her lips for silence. He waited, listening. Was it coming? His heart raced. Jesus, what the hell was that?
    Miranda trembled against him, her muscles tense. After several moments she asked, “What was it?” Her voice ricocheted off the narrow space, a hoarse whisper.
    “I don’t know.” It. Not him. So she’d seen it too. He wasn’t hallucinating. He drew a deep, relieved breath. “It wasn’t a person.”
    “No.” She pressed into him. “It tried to bite me.” A shudder ran through her and she burrowed her face into his shoulder.
    Her hair brushed his chin and he savored the fresh apple scent of her shampoo. Her breasts pressed into his ribs. Despite the fear-laced adrenaline racing through his veins, it aroused him in an instant.
    But it had taken him weeks to get her to relax with him enough to go out. Even joining him for a piece of pie seemed major. He needed to take things slow. And he had to deal with this weird shit first.
    “Stay here.” He peeled her away, and, pressing her back into the deepest recesses of the doorway, took a cautious step away.
    “Caleb.” She gripped his arm, her fingers digging in.
    “I’m just going to look out and see if anything’s out there.” When she continued to hold on, he covered her fingers with his own. “Some time soon, I’d like to spend the night with you, Mandy, but not hiding in a doorway.”
    She caught her breath. “Oh…Caleb.”
    Rejection wasn’t what he heard in her voice. Sadness? Despair? If only he could see her face. Should he read hope in how slowly she released him? He knew she cared for him.
    “Please be careful,” she said.
    “I will.” Edging out onto the sidewalk, he looked one way, then the other. The street appeared empty, save for the occasional car passing by. The muggy air captured and held the smell of exhaust. The evenly spaced streetlights cast gray-green shadows on the sidewalks. A couple exited a doorway and strolled by across the street.
    “It looks clear, Mandy.” Caleb offered her a hand and smiled when she took it.
    Her gaze darted about as she emerged slowly from the alcove. Caleb slipped his arm around her waist. “I think we need to get off the street. Stay close.”
    “What do you think it was?” she asked.
    “I don’t know. Let’s wait and talk about it once we’re inside The Dish.” He urged her up the street. Every nerve in his body was clamoring with the fight or flight instinct.
    The Dish’s sign flashed bright neon pink only fifty feet away, the café nestled back onto a corner lot. A drive on one side made room for the handicapped ramp and access to the back parking lot. As they reached the well-lit parking slots out front on the street, Caleb heaved a sigh of relief. “Stay close, Mandy.” He scanned the area around them.
    A Ford Taurus pulled up to the café, and a slightly built silver-haired woman climbed out. She threw up a hand in a dainty wave.
    Miranda waved back in acknowledgement. “That’s Mrs. Farley. She comes to the library every Saturday.”
    Mrs. Farley’s silvery hair gleamed beneath the row of overhead lights outside of the diner. “Why, Miranda. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you out this late,” she said, her attention focused on Caleb with avid curiosity.
    Caleb felt Mandy tense with her effort to pull herself together. “I just closed the library, and we thought we’d have a piece of pie before we called it a night.”
    Mrs. Farley started up the stairs to the front door. “I had a craving for something sweet, and though I’m not really supposed to indulge, I couldn’t go to sleep. I hope Evelyn has some blueberry pie