Threshold of Pleasure (Mills & Boon Nocturne Cravings) Read Online Free PDF Page A

jumped in her seat. A man sat next to her. A huge man. The stool looked as if it would break any second under the strain of his enormous mass. He wasn’t obese by any means. Just big. Like a bodybuilder on massive doses of steroids.
    He was wearing a black T-shirt and camouflage cargo pants and was holding a cigarette. The seams on his pants and shirt looked as if they’d rip open at any moment.
    “I’m sorry? Are you talking to me?”
    He tapped the ash off his cigarette and turned his head to look at her. “I’m looking at you, aren’t I?”
    Her heart slammed in her chest so hard she had to gasp for breath. His eyes were as black as soot, the pupils red. Eden looked up at the lights overhead. It must’ve been a reflection off something, like a cat’s eyes glowing in the night.
    “I’m just sitting here having a drink,” she said as she picked up her glass and jingled the ice.
    “Ahuh.” He tapped the ash from his smoke again. “I haven’t seen you here before.”
    “It’s my first time.”
    He grinned and gray tendrils of smoke curled out of his nose and mouth. “I like first-timers.”
    Bile rose in her throat. She hadn’t seen him take a drag off his cigarette, so where was the smoke coming from? Parched and shaky, she instinctively reached for her glass, then remembered that it was empty. But as she clasped it in her hand, she felt the cool, refreshing liquid inside. Her glass was full again. Shivers rushed down her spine.
    “I have a message for you, Eden Swain.”
    Fear wiggled its way into her body, like a worm burrowing into black soil. Her throat tightened. “How do you know my name?”
    “Go home, get drunk and forget everything you think you know about Lilith Grae.” He stood to leave. “If you don’t, you’ll be sorrier than you’ve ever been in your life.”
    “Wait. Where is she?” Eden grasped his arm before he could turn away. His flesh burned like a hot plate against her skin. She yanked her hand back and swore. “Fuck me!”
    Cradling her hand to her chest, she looked down at it. A black scorch mark covered her entire palm. Smoke was actually rising from it and the stench of burned flesh invaded her nose.
    She looked up at the huge man with a renewed sense of awe and fear. It wasn’t normal for skin to sear; he wasn’t normal.
    Leaning down into her face, he said, “You can’t help her, Eden Swain. You’re not worthy.” More smoke snaked out of his nose and mouth as he spoke, as well as the putrid smell of rotten eggs.
    Eden’s stomach roiled and she had to bite her lip to stop from retching.
    With the pain of her burn still registering, she watched as he walked away. He moved through the crowd easily. She supposed that didn’t surprise her since he was such an enormous man, easily seven feet tall, but it wasn’t as if people were consciously moving out of his way. In fact, it seemed as if nobody even acknowledged his presence.
    They didn’t stare or gawk as he moved past, but just sort of drifted out of the way as if pushed gently by an unseen breeze.
    Eden couldn’t let him walk away—she had too many questions. Even though fear coursed through her, she had to try. For the woman. For herself.
    Leaning over the bar, she snagged a cotton rag, put the ice from her drink into it and wrapped it around her hand. It hurt like a bitch, but she sucked it up and jumped off her stool to follow the mammoth.
    Because he was so tall—easily head and shoulders, maybe even nipples, above everyone—it was easy to track where he was heading: to the washrooms.
    Leaning against the wall outside the men’s room, Eden waited for him to come out. Other men gave her strange looks as they brushed past her, but she ignored them. She was beyond caring what anyone thought of her, or question what she was doing.
    She was even more determined to locate Lilith Grae. The giant’s warning just affirmed her decision that she was on the right track. Obviously, there was more going on than