Far From Heaven Read Online Free PDF Page B

from her sex.
    Her lips were trembling. “I…do I know you somehow? Have we met before?”
    Interesting. She never would have seen him, but she most likely would have sensed him near her. She might recognize his presence, know by instinct that he was familiar to her. He allowed a reassuring smile. “Maybe we knew each other in another life.”
    She wet her lips, staring at his own now. “This is so not me.”
    “What’s that?”
    “I don’t know you.”
    “I thought we just established that you did, somehow.”
    That gained him a tiny smile. “You know what I mean.”
    “I think I do. You don’t know me, and yet…” His finger slid down the curve of her neck, over the persistent throb of her pulse. Delicate muscles tensed beneath his touch. He could now read every turbulent emotion as clearly as if it were his own. What would that feel like if he were buried to the hilt inside her? To feel those emotions crest as she came apart around him? “You want to. You can’t explain why. You wonder if it’s such a bad thing that you want to let go just once in your life.”
    His finger reached the neckline of her dress. Her eyes closed, her breath held, as she fell under a spell he wasn’t even bothering to weave…at least not by any magical means. She sat very still, captive by his intuitive words alone. “And it’s all right. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t matter, not for you. Nothing matters. There’s no one to impress anymore, no one to judge you.”
    “What if I judge myself?”
    “Guilt is so useless.”
    “I think you might be a very bad influence.”
    Ash traced his finger just inside the edge of her dress. “I think you should let me be. Take me home with you.”
    Maddie’s eyes opened and she drew a deep breath. She gave a meaningful nod toward the front end of her vehicle. “I hope your ride is nearby.”
    For a moment he held her gaze, drinking in the molten blue of her eyes. A pretty blush spread up her cheeks, and she made no move to push his hand away. He made no move to test her further. He knew he’d won.
    Giving her a crooked grin, he leaned into her car, reached across the steering column and turned the key. The engine purred to life. Maddie gasped.
    “What the…? A few minutes ago it was totally dead. How did you do that?”
    He stood straight and shrugged with feigned aw-shucks innocence. “I guess I have the magic touch.”
     
     
    She gripped the wheel so tight her knuckles ached, but in the face of the throb in other parts of Maddie’s body, her knuckles were the least of her worries.
    More than once, she’d asked herself what she was doing. The answer had never really come. Her mind was a humming blank, her body one big raw nerve. From the moment he’d touched her and she went up in flames, there’d simply been no turning back. Crazy? Yes, clearly she’d gone crazy. That was established. She might as well revel in it.
    I guess I have the magic touch.
    She knew from the pure male cockiness in that comment he hadn’t been talking about touching cars. Oh God. She might just be crazy and in for the night of her life. The trail of fire he’d left on her skin with just his fingertip still burned. Her entire body thrummed. By the time they reached her apartment, she’d be wound so tight she’d fly apart the moment he put a hand on her.
    Well, those magical hands were now resting casually on his jean-clad thighs in her passenger seat. He was quiet, and occasionally she glanced over to watch the passing streetlights intermittently bathe his features with their dingy glow. Every time she looked away from him, she almost convinced herself he wasn’t that good-looking. Only to glance over and feel that sweet shock to her senses yet again. His was a face she could spend hours looking at, exploring with her fingertips, memorizing.
    Ordinarily silence felt awkward to her, especially when she was one-on-one with someone she’d just met. She always felt compelled to fill it