Grace Street (A Chapter 8 Novel, #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

fully
aware of what she was agreeing to. Okay, so she didn’t know the
fine details yet, but tomorrow would bring all the answers she
sought.
    Sleep that night was fitful and her nerves
were frayed beyond repair. After getting up to get a drink of
water, she glanced out her bedroom window and there he was, Mr.
Black. She stood watching him from a slit in her curtains, trying
to imagine what he was thinking about. An orange light flickered
inside his darkened car and his driver’s side window rolled down, a
puff of smoke billowing out. With his perfect façade, she didn’t
take him to be a smoker. Several minutes passed and a nervous
fluttering settled deep in her belly and moved downward to the
place that she would soon be sharing with Mr. Black. She wanted
him, there was no denying it. The glow of the cigarette brightened
each time he inhaled and she slowed her breathing to match his.
    Prying herself from the window, she slipped
on a satin robe and quickly descended the two flights of stairs to
the side exit of her building. The sultry Virginia wind whipping
outside wreaked havoc on her hair, but it was the least of her
concerns. She wanted to see Mr. Black up close and personal and to
study his lean, bronze-skinned profile. She wanted to smell his
masculinity and to peer into his critical eyes.
    Sneaking to the side of the building as
quietly as possible, she moved up behind his car, being careful to
stay in his blind spot. Just as she moved closer, his driver’s side
window slid down all the way and he flicked the cigarette out. A
gust of smoke came out along with his signature scent. Music
filtered through the open window and past her ears to the sound of Demons by Imagine Dragons. What demons was Victor hiding?
Besides his obvious and less than secretive stalking tendencies,
that is. A tremor ran through Elsa. She felt ridiculous and
breathless like a girl of eighteen as she hid in the shadows of his
car just to get a glimpse of the man who wanted to have sex with
her. Praying his doors were unlocked, she moved quickly to the
passenger door and let herself in, completely taking him by
surprise.
    With wide, agitated eyes, he glared at her.
“Sneaking up on a man is a good way to get your ass kicked,” he
grumbled through gritted teeth.
    Elsa tried to resist a smile. Mr. Black was
quite appealing when caught unaware. “The look of surprise is
becoming of you,” she dared to smirk.
    Even in the dark, it was hard to miss his jaw
clenched and his eyes narrowed. “Get out,” he barked, reaching over
and opening her door.
    When he leaned across her, his arm brushed
against her scantily clad body and the smell of smoke, citrus and
bergamot tantalized her. She wasn’t leaving just yet. The fun had
just started. Pulling her door closed, his lips parted in surprise
again.
    “This isn’t a fucking game, Elsa,” his deep
voice boomed.
    “Then why are you sitting out here in the
middle of the night taunting me?” she blurted, scarcely aware of
her own voice.
    He blinked long and hard and for a brief
moment, seemed to be at a loss for words. After giving her body a
raking once over, his eyes rested on her bare feet. “You’re out
here barely dressed and not even wearing any shoes. What the hell
were you thinking?” his mouth curved into a tight frown.
    “I wasn’t thinking,” she moistened her lips
nervously.
    His mouth thinned in displeasure.
“Clearly.”
    She crossed her arms over her chest, trying
to appear unaffected by his words and leaned back into the leather.
“Why are you here when we have a meeting tomorrow?”
    Sinking back into the seat next to her,
Victor nonchalantly fidgeted with the stereo settings and turned
the music up.
    “Because I couldn’t wait to see you,” his
tone softened.
    The coolly impersonal tone of his voice and
statement were contradictory to one another and puzzled her. She
watched him warily as he glanced sideways, obviously trying to
gauge her expression.
    “Now get out,”