Fantasyland 03 Fantastical Read Online Free PDF Page B

though I had good skills and my
boss loved me so would give me a good reference, I’d been at the
agency that long because the thing I hated most in the world was
job hunting so I avoided it at all costs even though I was in a
nowhere job that didn’t challenge me all that much.
    And I’d decided just before I broke up with
Brian that it was time to get on the property ladder. I was still
in the one-bedroom apartment I’d moved into when I was
twenty-three. It was dinky, the landlord refused to paint it (so I
did, on my dime), the appliances were old, sucked and broke down a
lot and my bathroom suite was mustard yellow. I wasn’t big on
change but I figured it was high time to move on. These plans were
stalled firstly because Brian and I broke up and secondly because I
wasn’t sure I’d be employed for very much longer.
    Even with all that, I wanted to go back. It
was familiar. In my world, we had cell phones. In my world, we had
plumbing. Okay, so the birds weren’t as colorful and the landscape
wasn’t as splendiferous but that only was the case here when a
curse hadn’t settled on the land.
    There were no curses in my world either,
another plus.
    And I’d miss my folks. I was an only child
(which, if Rosa was my sister here, and she seemed so sweet, it
would have been awesome to get to know her better before she was
swept away by malevolent creatures) but my parents were way cool.
They were a little bizarre, seeing as they were screaming hippies
(and I was so far from a hippie as to be not funny, how I sprang
from their loins was anyone’s guess) but they were awesome.
    Not to mention my friends, who were also
awesome. It didn’t seem Cora of this world was very friendly.
Though, Dash seemed to like her.
    On this thought, I heard the hides being
moved back and looked from the ceiling to the opening to see
Noctorno arrive. Then I watched as he walked to the hides I was in.
Then I watched as he lowered his big body to them and pulled off
his boots. Then I watched as he loosened the laces at his collar.
Then I watched as he lifted his arms and his long fingers curled
into his shirt at the back between his shoulder blades. Then I
watched him yank it off.
    Then my breath stuck in my lungs.
    Holy crap, his back was
out-freaking-standing! I didn’t know a back had that many muscles.
All of them defined, tight and hard.
    Yowza!
    Then I saw them. Puckered scars. Three of
them. One on his right shoulder blade. One along the right ribs of
his back. The last along his waist.
    This guy was either a regular at bar fights
or he was a warrior.
    I was guessing with his demeanor, both.
    He stood, walked around and doused the
torches. He dumped a couple of logs on the fire then I watched in
the firelight as he walked back to me.
    Whoa! Freaking hell, his chest was even
better (and more scarred).
    He also had great chest hair, all dark and
sexy. I was not into chest hair, or I wasn’t until I saw his. It
was not too little, not too much… it was just right.
    Holy crap!
    Then he bent low, threw back the hides and
slid in beside me.
    I shot to sitting, screeching, “What are you
doing?”
    “Preparing to sleep,” he replied calmly.
    “Here?” I asked shrilly.
    “Yes,” he answered, still calm.
    “You can’t sleep here,” I informed him.
    This was met with silence. He was on his
back. I was on my booty with my torso twisted to look down at him
and his eyes were on me.
    Then he asked, “Where do you suggest I
sleep?”
    “I don’t know,” I replied. “Don’t you have a
bedroll or something?”
    He got up on both elbows and returned, “No,
I don’t have a bedroll. I left this morning on the errand of
getting my brother to a church and dragging your arse out of bed. I
didn’t come prepared to camp in the wilderness.”
    Hmm. Of course he was right.
    “Maybe you can take some hides and make a
bed on the other side of the fire,” I suggested.
    “And maybe you can do that,” he retorted.
“I’m sleeping