Hyde, an Urban Fantasy Read Online Free PDF Page B

“He’ll know what you are, Eden.” He handed it back to her. “I help lots of people—that’s the kind of guy I am,” he said without a smile. “I don’t know an Eden.”
     
    “I’m Eden. That’s me.”
     
    “I thought your name was Chastity.”
     
    She raised her eyebrows. “ No . I’m pretty sure it’s Eden.” The tone of her voice was stronger, more confrontational.
     
    He liked that. Damn it, he shouldn’t like that.
     
    “So?” she asked.
     
    “So, what?”
     
    “So . . . do you know what the message means?”
     
    “No idea. Maybe you should ask the girl you mugged.” For some reason, she made him uncomfortable—and Mitch didn’t do uncomfortable.
     
    “I didn’t—” She let out a long sigh of impatience, tapping her hand on her thigh. “Geez, and you were so nice to me the first time we met.”
     
    “Oh, so you remember now, do you?”
     
    Her lips came together and she glared at him. “I meant the morning we met.”
     
    “I was, wasn’t I? Well, I was even nicer the night before,” he said, smirking.
     
    “And I’m sure it was all very altruistic. I’ve already nominated you for Man of the Year.” She sighed again. “I didn’t come here to argue. Or to discuss your skills in the bedroom.”
     
    “Too bad. I was just about to cancel all of my afternoon appointments.”
     
    She glared at him. “You’re not going to help me, are you?”
     
    “Nope.” He took another bite, praying she’d leave. “I’m going to eat.”
     
    She grimaced and peered over the lid of the Styrofoam box that held his lunch. “What is that?”
     
    He swallowed and looked down, really seeing it for the first time. “Uh, let’s see.” He pulled it apart. “It’s got bread, a couple sad-looking vegetables, and this has a slight resemblance to meat. So I’m going with ‘it’s a burger’.”
     
    “I would have pegged you for more of a granola-eating, slave-to-the-gym kind of guy.”
     
    “Why would you think that? You’ve been to my house.”
     
    Her gaze traveled rapidly across his chest to his bicep then to his face as a blush planted itself firmly onto her cheeks. Damn it, it made her even more attractive.
     
    “I didn’t look in your refrigerator,” she said.
     
    “Why would you? Your panties weren’t in there.”
     
    She caught her flinch quickly and looked straight into his eyes. “Do you always push away people who come to you for help?”
     
    How could she get under his skin so easily? What the hell was he doing? Playful banter was one thing—playful banter with someone you’d almost lost yourself to was something too stupid for words.
     
    Alright, little girl, get ready for the real me. “Of course not. I’d never be able to make a living. I only push away those people I’ve stuck my dick into.” He felt a grin lift the corners of his mouth as her embarrassment grew.
     
    “Wow. You’re a real charmer, aren’t you?” She tossed her head, her hair falling around her shoulders, her eyes narrowing. “Too bad I was asleep through the entire ordeal . Does that happen with a lot of your bedmates?”
     
    “Oh, so that was you sleeping, huh? Is that why you were such a shitty lay?” As he watched her eyes get three times larger, he thought how she’d been the most incredible lover he’d ever had. And that connection he’d felt . . .
     
    She stepped backwards and blinked rapidly, tears beginning to pool.
     
    Damn it, another thing he didn’t do—regret his words. “Ugh, stop.” He leaned back in his chair and tossed his napkin onto the desk. “Do you really expect me to believe you were sleepwalking? The whole time?”
     
    The tears went away. “No. I don’t expect you to believe anything. But I was.”
     
    How did I get messed up in this? “Here.” He grabbed a yellow post-it note, flipped through his address file, wrote down a name and number and handed it to her. “Try her.”
     
    She took it from the edge as if she was