Tempt Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

leave me the fuck alone?”
    Angelique stumbled backward at the insult that seemed to be a response to her thoughts, and saw Gabriel standing beside the tree out of sight of the house.
    That did it.
    “Excuse me?”
    Gabriel swore and spun around. Noticing her standing by the gazebo, he swore again. “I didn’t see you there. I didn’t mean—I was talking to . . . myself.” He sighed and ran a hand through his already tousled hair. “I’m truly sorry if I offended you. It’s a bad habit of mine.”
    She took a step closer, arms crossed defensively at her waist. “You seem to have a lot of those.”
    “Huh?”
    “Bad habits,” she clarified. “Drinking. Fighting. Offending people. And you talk to yourself, too.”
    He tilted his head, green eyes gleaming at her through the darkness. “Been listening to gossip, little girl? I don’t think you pressed your ear to the keyhole long enough. Otherwise you wouldn’t be out here. Go back inside, where it’s safe.”
    She ignored the warning in his tone and sighed. “Angelique. In case you were wondering, since you never bothered with introductions, that’s my name.” She walked over to the tree and leaned against it, feeling the bark scrape against her back. “And I’m no little girl, as you can plainly see. I’m also not stupid.” She made a face. “Top of my class. So who was it you were you talking to?”
    Gabriel looked distracted. “What?”
    She shrugged. “I’m not assuming. Trust me. Personally I’d love it if there were someone besides me who hadn’t been intimately involved with something supernatural. Then I wouldn’t feel so left out. But your mother is a mambo, your sister can see ghosts, and you two are twins . . .” She let the sentence dangle, biting her lip when he flinched.
    She could see the barriers come up across his handsome face. She’d hit a nerve.
    “Doing a paper for that sexy professor on the unusual Toussaint lineage? Following up the Loup Garou with ghosts and possession? Wouldn’t you rather look at your own family line? You should ask your brother what life was like being ridden by a fuck-hungry spirit because your father liked to dabble in the darkness and had an eye for the ladies.” Gabriel’s smile was sharp, adding to the sting. “The eavesdropping is so much more interesting at my mother’s house. You should try it.”
     
     
    DAMN, HE WAS A BASTARD. HE’D BARELY COME HOME AND already his sister was defensive, his mother disappointed, and now he was purposely trying to hurt this innocent.
    This young, succulent, luscious little innocent in snug blue jeans and an off-the-shoulder peasant blouse. She made him feel like an old pervert. Like a kid with his first hard-on. He couldn’t tear his gaze from the sweep of those smooth, bared shoulders. Couldn’t keep himself from noticing the way the fabric fell against the firm rise of those unconfined, lush breasts.
    Shit. If Little Miss Hot Coed was so clever, she should be smart enough to stay far away from him.
    “Keep going,” Emmanuel taunted, reminding Gabriel of his presence. “Your obvious charm is sure to win her over. The cleavage leering is really working, too. I know my heart’s all atwitter.”
    Gabriel gritted his teeth, trying not to look at the tall man lounging, unseen, beside Angelique. Emmanuel had barely left him alone since he’d woken up with a hangover and a swollen jaw in his mother’s house.
    He wouldn’t admit this to anyone, and he still wasn’t planning on thanking Emmanuel anytime soon, but in a way it had been a relief. The protections his priestess mother had insulated her home with had offered him some respite. Peace of a kind he hadn’t felt since he’d left a year ago.
    There was no darkness under the Mambo’s roof. It was a fact that didn’t soothe him as much as he thought it would. It meant he wasn’t crazy. It meant there really was something out there. That it hadn’t all been in his mind. Had the djab escaped