The Fire and the Veil (Veronica Barry Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

was, “I haven’t had sex in three years.”
    If she’d felt flushed before, it was nothing compared to the fire that caught in her skin when she heard herself blurt that out. She pulled her hand out of his and buried her face.
    “Oh my god,” she muttered. “I’m such an idiot.” She shook her head, her face still covered by her hands. “I can’t believe I said that. I just assume that’s where all this is headed, and I’m freaking out about it, and what do I know, maybe you just wanted me over here to show me your fish—”
    “Veronica.”
    She stopped talking and peeked at him through her fingers.
    “I didn’t just invite you over here to see my fish,” he said. “I did have ulterior motives. I mean, I wasn’t sure you’d be spending the night or anything. But I was kinda hoping for at least second base.” He grinned.
    She smiled back, but her face was still burning.
    “Let me get you a glass of water,” he said.
    She nodded. He stood and stepped into his small kitchen area, getting a smoked glass from his cabinet and filling it with water from a bottle in the fridge. He returned and sat by her side, giving her the glass.
    She took a long swallow. The water did help. It was chilled and as it cooled the inside of her mouth and throat, she felt better. “Am I a complete nerd in your eyes, now?”
    “No, of course not,” he said seriously. Then he smiled. “Three years. Man. That’s a dry spell. I’d probably be as nervous as you if I went through a dry spell that long.”
    “It’s not easy, you know, when you realize things about a person on the first date… it usually means no second date,” Veronica said quietly. She took another sip.
    Daniel’s eyes widened. “Your visions. You have them about people you date?”
    “Sort of,” she said. “It’s more like I just know stuff. The visions don’t happen that often. But I’ll know a lot more about a person than they intend for me to find out. You know, when you go on a first date you usually aren’t really trying to lay all your cards on the table right away.”
    Daniel nodded, eyebrows raised. “Very true. You’re just trying to make a good first impression.”
    “Yeah, it’s too weird, knowing things. One guy was a teacher: he had a crush on one of his seniors. Yucky.”
    Daniel nodded again. “That’d kill it for me.”
    “Another guy had just spent the night with an ex-girlfriend. I mean, the list goes on. And I didn’t used to even acknowledge to myself that I knew these things, that they were really true. But I’d think, ‘I just have a feeling there’s something like that going on.’ And it didn’t matter if I accepted it or not. It made it impossible to go further. I just couldn’t do it.”
    “I don’t blame you,” he said. After a moment, he shifted a bit in his seat. “So, uh. What about me?”
    “What? What about you?”
    “What do you know, about me?”
    “I, uh… what?”
    “Well, something turned you off. What was it? Was it the baseball card collection? I know it’s kind of juvenile, but those are actually worth money—”
    “Daniel, nothing turned me off,” Veronica said. She realized it was true. In fact, she didn’t have any extra information about Daniel, unless you counted the bit about how he didn’t mean her any harm. “They haven’t told me anything about you.”
    “They?”
    “The voices in my head, Daniel. You know.”
    “They haven’t told you anything about me? Why not?” He almost sounded disappointed.
    “I don’t know,” she said. “I think maybe… cause they like you. I think they warn me when someone’s not good for me. They think you’re good for me.” That was something. If the spirits liked Daniel, maybe she should pay attention to that. But was she really going to let ghosts dictate who she should date? What kind of life was that? And why did they like him, because he would take care of her? Did the ghosts think she was weak, too?
    Daniel seemed pleased,