Playing With Fire Read Online Free PDF Page A

himself and didn’t go wild, no one asked any questions.  
    “No joke,” he said. “There’s more need than you might think. Lots of desperate people out there.”
    Her expression sobered. “I guess there are.” Then she seemed to give herself a little shake, and added, “Was that what happened last night?”
    He knew he should have been relieved that she’d given him such an easy out for his behavior, and one he’d already thought of himself. For some reason, though, he found himself wishing he hadn’t backed himself into a corner where he’d have to lie to her.  
    As he looked down into her earnest face, he realized he’d made a misstep. He knew she was interested, or she would never have returned his phone call. But he had a suspicion she would have been even more interested if he hadn’t played hard to get and left her to her own devices back at the speed-dating party.
    Still, he didn’t see any way to avoid lying without making himself look like an even bigger ass. “Yes. I was on call, so….” He trailed off and hoped she wouldn’t ask him why she hadn’t heard a phone go off or seen him take a text message.
    If she harbored any lingering suspicions, though, she didn’t give any sign of them. “It must be hard to not be able to call your time your own.”
    “Sometimes.” Was that a glimmer of sympathy he saw in her eyes? Probably just a trick of the lighting. He’d never been one to evoke sympathy in others. “All jobs have their downsides.”
    “I suppose so.” She took a few sips of Chianti. “Although since I get paid to do what I’ve wanted to do ever since I was a kid, I don’t have to deal with that sort of thing.”
    “You’re lucky.”
    “I know.”
    A silence then, one that was fortunately broken by the arrival of their server. He ordered osso bucco, while Felicia opted for eggplant parmesan.
    “Vegetarian?” he asked, after the waitress had left.
    She shook her head. “No. I just like eggplant, and I hadn’t had it for awhile.” This time the twinkle in her eyes was obvious. “Don’t worry — you’re not going to get a lecture about ordering veal.”
    As a matter of fact, all demons liked veal and lamb, but Samael guessed he’d be better off not bringing up that particular tidbit. “Wouldn’t be the first time,” he replied, thinking of the brunette he’d picked up at Griffith Observatory all those years ago. She’d been virulently vegetarian, anti-war, and a wildcat in the sack. What year had that been? Seventy-three? Seventy-four?
    He supposed it really didn’t matter, in the grand scheme of things.
    Felicia said, “Ex-girlfriend an activist?”
    “What?”
    She smiled. She had the smallest hint of a dimple at the right corner of her mouth. Samael wondered what it would be like to kiss it.
    “You had that look in your eyes — the one guys tend to get when they’re thinking about a previous relationship.”
    If she could read him that easily, then he needed to watch himself. He wasn’t used to someone who paid that much attention to his expressions.
      “I might have been on the receiving end of the ‘meat is murder’ lecture once or twice,” he admitted.
    She raised her glass to him, as if in salute. “Then we have something in common. My college boyfriend tried to convert me to the cause and then dumped me because I wouldn’t give up In N Out burgers.”
    “Woman after my own heart,” Samael said, then wished he could have ripped out his tongue and stomped on it. A first date was a bit early to be talking about hearts. Actually, for him, any time in a relationship was too early to bring up hearts and flowers and riding off into the sunset together.
    The dimple reappeared. “At least I won’t have to worry about you chiding me for ordering a steak or something the next time — ” And then she broke off, a look of dismay on her face.  
    It was one that Samael recognized right away, since he had a feeling he’d worn pretty much the same