Forbidden, Tempted Series (Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

time and she wouldn’t ruin it by acting like a silly girl.
    “School. Homework. I think my chem teacher hates me.”
    He flicked the blinker on and turned left down a gravel road. Rocks pinged like a symphony against the bumper.
    He laughed and again it was really good to hear that sound. She’d almost forgotten how infectious his laugh could be.
    “So, lots of detention this year again you think?”
    Flint rolled her eyes. “Gah, I hope not. I wasn’t even talking. I was just staring at a...”
    Twitching, heart going nuts, she clamped her mouth shut, realizing what she’d almost admitted.
    But her father wasn’t dumb; he figured it out in less than a second. “A guy?”
    Flint wiggled on the leather seat, hauling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms under her thighs. “Dad, I really don’t want to...”
    He held up a hand. “I know, I’m your dad. It’s not cool to talk about boys with me.” He sighed and she gnawed on the inside of her cheek. “Your mom was so much better at this than me, but you know. Be safe. Okay?”
    “Oh my God, Dad, seriously!” A hot trickle ran down Flint’s spine as heat spread through her belly. “I so don’t want to have this conversation.”
    He frowned. “Just promise me, Flint. We can’t have any babies right now.”
    She groaned, hiding her flaming face against her knees.
    “I do a crappy enough job taking care of you. We can’t have another human being to be responsible for.”
    “Dad!”
    “Just promise, honey.” His voice dropped to a sad whisper.
    It took everything she had to return his sincere gaze.
    She’d never even been kissed. Sex was so beyond the realm of possibility at this point. It wasn’t like she even knew anyone she’d want to lose her virginity to. Then a pair of dark shades and a body built like an NFL lineman popped into her head, calling her a liar. She nodded as her heart pounded. “I promise.”
    Breathing a sigh of relief, he stared back at the road. “Good. That’s good.”
    Wishing she had some bleach to scrub the past ten seconds from her brain, she contented herself with gazing out the window. Her eyes widened as it finally dawned on her that they were here. Or at least at the entrance of the circus.
    Though it was nothing like what she’d expected.
    She’d been looking for a red-and-white-striped tent, half-drunken clowns parading around their trailers, and the yip-yapping of house dogs.
    A large, black-spiraled gate loomed like a specter before them. The carnival was completely enclosed, set within the massive field. Black and dark red tents lifted like steeples above the gate. A wooden sign read:
    Welcome to Carnival Diabolique
    The words looked like they’d been clawed into the wood and then painted over in black.
    The wrought-iron Gothic framework opened on soundless hinges.
    “Wow, this is different,” her dad muttered before slowly creeping inside.
    “Where’re the people?” Flint stared out the window in open-mouthed wonder as the enormous scope of the place revealed itself to them.
    A giant tent took up the center of the massive square. It loomed like a giant, drawing the eye and making her muscles tense with something sort of like shock. A spiderweb network of smaller tents surrounded it.
    There were a couple of rides, one that might have been a carousel, but instead of horses there were wolves, bats, and something that even resembled a serpentine dragon with its golden scales and sharp-toothed mouth open in a silent scream.
    Flint could clearly make out the cages of a Ferris wheel and a spacecraft-looking shape. None of the lights were on, and more than that—apart from the carousel—they weren’t even colorful. Everything looked painted black. But instead of it being flat and dull, this black gleamed like obsidian in flame. There was a rich sparkle to the scene as their headlights bounced off the shapes.
    Silver-bullet trailers sat at the fringes of the clearing—lights off, looking empty and