In the Blood Read Online Free PDF Page A

monsters filled her ears, and she flinched from him. His eyes clouded with hurt.
    “I’m sorry, I’m just…jumpy. Probably the drugs wearing off.” She shrugged, knowing she was a good liar who had just had a rare slip up.
    He swallowed, the sound audible, the way his throat moved looking almost painful. “I know that you are troubled—”
    “It was an accident,” she snapped.
    “And I believe you.” He hesitated. “I know you have…nightmares. Episodes, perhaps? During your waking hours, as you did at my apartment?”
    Her cheeks burned, and she knew he could see the embarrassment written on her face. “No. That never happened before. I was kind of thinking you had something to do with it.”
    “Me?”
    God, how could she do this when the guy had just saved her life? Self-preservation, that’s how. “Yeah. How do I know that wine you gave me wasn’t drugged?”
    He leaned forward. “You think I would have to drug you?”
    His entire being, from the looming expanse of his broad shoulders to the dark promise of seduction in his deep voice, caused sparks of awareness to race through her, but she wouldn’t show it. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and shot back, “What, because I’m a prostitute? You don’t need to drug me, you can just throw a wad of cash at me and my panties will fall off?”
    “No.” He leaned closer. Their noses almost touched. If she had wanted to, she could have brushed her lips against his. He continued, in a voice every bit as deep and dark as her most erotic daydreams. “I would not have to drug you because if I wished to seduce you, I would. I could do things to you that would make you beg for it, Cassandra. I could give you pleasure like you’ve never felt in your life, and by the time I was finished, you would be screaming my name.”
    She cleared her throat to hide the huge gulp of air she took. She’d had a taste of him already, and knew with aching certainty that he could make good on his threat. As much as she hated herself for admitting it, a part of her wanted him to. “Well, I’m glad you think so. But I’m not interested. Don’t call me, don’t contact me through the club, don’t ever come here again. Do you understand?”
    He straightened, looking as though he’d suddenly remembered his surroundings. He fastened the top two buttons of his shirt, his face so devoid of emotion that he appeared almost alien. “Yes, of course. I understand perfectly. Good night, then.”
    Only after he’d collected his jacket and left did Cassie notice the broken window pane.

Chapter Three
    For three nights, Cassandra didn’t sleep. She didn’t take her pills. She sat up in bed, staring at the cardboard she’d taped over the hole in the window. Rationally, she knew that if a window hadn’t kept him out in the first place, a broken window wouldn’t make much difference in him getting in, but cold logic wouldn’t set her at ease. Constant surveillance at least gave her some charade of control.
    How had he found her? She was certain she hadn’t called him, after she saw the broken window. Had he intended to, what, attack her? Kill her? But then he’d stayed and nursed her through an overdose. Those didn’t seem like the actions of a cold-hearted murderer. Every time she tried to convince herself otherwise, she remembered the way he’d fallen asleep at her bedside, waiting for a sign that she was all right. Of course, she would have been better off in a hospital, but they might have locked her up for attempting suicide. A rich, smart guy like Viktor would have known that. Maybe he hadn’t called for help because he wanted to protect her.
    She forced that notion from her mind. It bordered on something almost romantic, and she definitely didn’t need to be mooning away her life in day dreams about a client, even if that client set her blood on fire just from being near her. She shivered at the memory of the sensual threat he’d delivered before storming out of