First Taste of Darkness Read Online Free PDF

door. 

Chapter Three
    Jess clutched her bag and rushed through the door at the hotel’s entrance. There was some kind of commotion going on at the front desk, so she hadn’t bothered stopping. They had her credit card number on file—they could bill her for anything she might owe. It wasn’t like she’d run up a tab at the place.
    A line of taxis waited near the curb. A relieved sigh slipped from her as she headed toward them.  A few more steps and she’d be—
    “You need to come with me,” a hard voice ordered as an equally hard hand curled around her wrist.
    Jess’s head jerked toward the stranger who’d grabbed her. “I think you’ve got the wrong woman.”
    He smiled at her. He was handsome, blond, with a strong, hard build. And very, very cold blue eyes. 
    “No, I don’t. I saw you last night—”
    Her face iced.
    “I know you were with Landon, and now, you’re coming with me.”
    She yanked against his hold. “Look, buddy, I don’t know who you are—”
    He jabbed her. With a damn needle.
    Jess screamed, but he shoved his mouth over hers and muffled the sound. She tried to fight him, but her body wasn’t responding to her commands. Her limbs were sluggish, heavy, and Jess felt herself begin to sag.
    “Let’s just see,” the man whispered against her lips, “what the bastard will do to get you back.”
    Nothing.
She was nothing and no one to Blake Landon. She would have told the stranger that, but Jess couldn’t speak.
    Her eyes closed.
    Her dream had just turned into a nightmare. 
    ***
    “Sir…” The hotel manager, Alan Talbott, swallowed and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Ms. Delaney didn’t come to the front desk. She’s—”
    Blake’s hands slammed down onto the marble counter. “Gone?”
    A nervous nod was his answer.
    She’d moved fast. Faster than he expected. As a rule, women didn’t run from his bed.
    Jess wasn’t following the rules.
    I’m the one who told her it was just for the night. 
    “The room was paid for in advance. One of the non-refundable deals with a travel agency out of Florida.  Jess Delaney didn’t charge any incidentals during her stay. There was no need—”
    “Was she alone?” Blake gritted out the words.
    Alan blinked and his brown eyes widened behind the thin frames of his glasses.
    “I-I—” Alan tapped frantically at the keyboard. “The reservation was made for a Mr. and Mrs. Burns, but it was, ah, altered to a Jess Delaney right before her arrival…”
    That had better mean that Jess hadn’t
become
Mrs. Burns.
    “Get her address. Send it to me.”
    She was probably on her way to the airport.  Heading back home. To Florida? Yeah, that fit. He’d caught the faintest whisper of a southern accent in her words.
    When the desire was heavy in her voice, the accent was more pronounced. Sexy.
    He turned away from the counter, then stilled.
    What in the hell am I doing?
  Chasing after a woman who’d left him.  That wasn’t his style.
    She’d left, and that was it. He needed to move the hell on.
    “Forget it, Talbott,” Blake muttered as he jerked a hand through his hair. “I don’t care.”
    Liar, liar.
    The truth was…Jess with her golden eyes and her hot passion…she’d gotten to him. Gotten past the hard surface that shielded him from others.
    Maybe it was for the best that she was gone. One night, and he was already acting like a man possessed.
    There were some women out there who could truly fuck with a man’s mind.
    He suspected Jess Delaney was one of those women.
    Blake headed for the elevator that would take him back up to his suite—a suite that still smelled of strawberries.
    ***
    “Wake up!” The hard order was followed by a slap—right across her face.
    Jess’s eyes flew open.  Shock and pain rolled through her.  She’d never been slapped in her life!
    She tried to lunge toward the jerk who’d just inflicted the damage. A blond prick who—
    Her arms were bound behind her. Thick rope locked them to the