Reluctant Adept: Book Three of A Clairvoyant's Complicated Life Read Online Free PDF Page B

introduce you around."
    I liberated a psi-free mineral water from the tub, stuck it under my arm, and then trailed behind with the plate, stuffing a loaded tortilla chip into my mouth and trying not to dump it all over my blouse as I walked. Oh, man. Heaven. The fingers of my gloves were going to be an oil-stained mess by the time I was done, though. Why could I never seem to remember to take at least my right one off before stuffing my face? Bonehead. Fortunately, I kept several extra pairs in my purse.
    A few steps past the fireplace, Julie stopped to whisper intently into Kieran's ear. Uh oh. I knew that look. She was up to something, but between my chewing, our distance, and the ambient noise, I couldn't overhear what she'd said. Kieran faced away from me, so his expression was no help. He gave her a nod and then continued to follow in her wake across the room.
    Damn it. With my mouth full of nachos, I couldn't scold her, and when I realized she'd headed straight for her husband and Glen, my ex-boyfriend—the one who dumped me last year because he was sick and tired of dealing with all my 'necessary precautions'—I wanted to yank her back and threaten her with horrible things if she didn't behave. Why had I shoved the entire mile-high chip into my mouth? No doubt I had cilantro stuck in between my front teeth, and to top everything off, I couldn't take a swig of my water because the bottle was still encased in its protective shrinkwrap.
    Resigning myself to the coming discomfort, I offloaded my plate on the nearest table and then sidled up to Kieran.
    "Hey, sweetie." Julie beamed at her husband, pausing to greet Glen before going on, "Hon, I want you to meet Lire's beau. Kieran, this is my husband Steven and his friend Glen."
    They shook hands while I did my best to avoid looking at my ex.
    Why was I so uncomfortable? Yes, he'd hurt me, badly in fact, but I'd been over the jerk for months. Maybe my sudden cold sweat was because I had little experience with ex-boyfriends, having had so few of them. Honestly, this was a novelty I could have lived without, in spite of Kieran overshadowing him. Not because Glen wasn't attractive; he was, in a clean-cut Microsoft executive sort of way. It was just that Kieran—in addition to being incredibly sexy and well-built—possessed an enigmatic aura that marked him as being dangerous if provoked. He stood out in the room like a fallen angel among the rabble. Glen was so far removed from Kieran's league, it was laughable.
    I busied myself with unwrapping my water bottle, needing to hide behind it.
    Maybe most women in my shoes would be feeling smug and victorious right about now, but for some reason I itched for a hole to fall into. Julie was my dearest friend and I loved her to bits, but this whole setup smacked of … of high school.
    As I gulped from my bottle, I almost cringed, wondering what Kieran must think of it. The guy was a twenty-seven-hundred-year-old dignified sidhe.
    Strange as it seemed, it was only at odd times like these that the age disparity occurred to me. After all, we were both adults. By all appearances, Kieran didn't look any older than my thirty, but Julie's mischief had me considering the bizarreness of it. His teenage years were so long ago, at this point they must be an indistinct fog lurking in the furthest corner of his mind. Besides, the sidhe were far too superior to experience anything as plebeian as angst. Most of them no doubt popped out of their mothers' womb wearing tuxedos and ready for higher education, skipping puberty entirely.
    Why had I decided this party was a good idea?
    The touch of Kieran's caress on the back of my neck startled me. I jerked my attention upward to find him gazing down at me, his lazy grin and twinkling eyes speaking of mischief. To my shock, he leaned down and pressed his lips to my temple, soothing my anxiety with a gush of warmth. I blinked up at him, mystified and pleased in equal measure, until Glen's shocked voice