Into the Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page B

shower at this very moment.
    So for tonight, he’d take Chessa’s advice to heart and hunker down—keep his distance from the temptation just up the
    stairs.
    Intending only to adjust himself for comfort, his hand
    smoothed down his naked belly to grasp his rigid cock
    through his blue jeans. Instead, he squeezed and imagined
    what it would feel like to rut against the soft juncture of her
    thighs. He remembered the gentle grind of her ass as she’d
    shifted within his arms in the back of the squad car.
    “ Merde! ” He jackknifed to a sitting position, wincing at the
    pinch of rough cloth against his sex.
    The welcome sting reminded him to trust Chessa had Natalie’s best interests at heart—as well as his own. When his
    partner arrived, he was backing far away, because he’d be a
    goner if he came within ten feet of the sexy blonde upstairs.

    chapter
    3
    atalie couldn’t sleep.
    N Not because she was afraid. For the first
    time in weeks, her stalker was the least of her
    worries.
    Instead, her present danger lay in her own body’s
    betrayal.
    Heat simmered beneath the surface of her skin—
    a flush of warmth that spread across her chest and
    belly. The air around her felt close and heavy despite the fan circling above the bed.
    Her heart beat too quickly. Her breasts grew
    heavy. Her nipples peaked against the thin silk of
    her nightgown. Then blood rushed to the juncture
    of her thighs, plumping her slick folds.
    34 delilah
    devlin
    She might be inexperienced, but Natalie recognized the
    signs of desire.
    The cause of her misery paced restlessly around the house.
    The creaking hinges of the doors he checked and rechecked
    gave away his unrest. The muffled thud of footsteps as he
    walked around the living room below, and the slap of his bare
    feet on the wooden steps when he came up to patrol the hall
    pinpointed his location.
    He passed outside her bedroom now, his shadow darkening the space beneath the door. Natalie ached to call out to
    him. Was Rene exercising extreme caution or suffering like
    she was?
    Reaching beyond the moment, Natalie wondered, why
    him? Why now?
    An instinct—some kernel of inborn knowledge—told her
    this new hunger was related to the current moon cycle. Just
    as the changes to her body began with the first sliver of pale
    light from the new moon, her need unfurled like a heron’s
    wings with the coming full moon.
    This past month, she’d been steadily shedding the baby
    fat that plagued her adolescence, although her appetite, especially for blood-enriched meats, had increased. Her first
    period ever had come and gone. Then sensual awareness dominated her waking and sleeping thoughts.
    For days, she’d dreamed of an anonymous lover in her bed.
    The things he’d done to her had left her breathless and blushing. If she managed to sleep tonight, she knew she’d find Rene’s
    face, his jaw taut with desire, his shoulders bunched as he hovered above her, supplanting the hazy man of her dreams.
    Why him? Although handsome, he wasn’t the first good-into the darkness
    35
    looking man she’d ever encountered. But from the moment
    he’d pulled her from the park bench into his arms, her body
    recognized his claim. He’d held her close, his thickly muscled
    torso sheltering her from further harm. His strength and distinctive scent, a spicy heated musk, imprinted on her mind.
    If she closed her eyes, she was there once more, draped across
    his lap in the back seat of the sedan, awakening to desire for
    the first time.
    Everything else—the horror of the attacks, the pain of her
    many little wounds—faded. She felt only his hard, muscled
    thighs beneath her bottom and the steely embrace that crushed
    the air from her lungs while he struggled for control.
    She wanted to know those sensations again—and so much
    more.
    Frustration humming inside her, she tossed back the bedcovers and padded to the French doors, flinging them open.
    She stepped into a wind that whipped her hair away