Wicked as They Come Read Online Free PDF Page B

that.”
    I couldn’t look into his eyes anymore, because I could see a sort of adoration in them that made me nervous. I traced whorls on the stump with my finger.
    “Just so you know,” I said, “I just ended a bad relationship, and I’m not really looking for another.”
    “You may not be looking for it,” he said, “but maybe it’s come looking for you.”
    “In a dream?” I asked. “My brain probably conjured you up because you’re the exact opposite of my old fiancé. I may not be taken, but that doesn’t mean I’m available. I can’t have you looking at me like that. But you seem . . . nice enough.”
    I didn’t really have words for what he seemed.
    He chuckled to himself, low in his throat. There was something sinister there, roiling under the surface like eels in a lake, dark and dangerous. But there was something wildly attractive about it, too.
    “What?” I said.
    “You’re buying it,” he said. “You may say it’s a dream, but you’re empathizing, trying to make me feel better. I am no longer a figment of your imagination.”
    “I’m not buying anything—I’m playing by the rules,”I said, feeling a bit prickly. “No point in dreaming if you don’t dream the dream.”
    “There’s a bit of poetry in that,” he said, smiling at the grass in his hands.
    Then I felt his full focus on me. I tensed.
    “Look into my eyes, Letitia.”
    “Call me Tish,” I said out of habit.
    “Never,” he said fiercely.
    I looked down into his eyes. I couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop myself.
    His eyes were the color of the ocean, a shifting grayish-brownish-greenish, alternately cloudy and clear. They didn’t blink. The stare was so intense that a bolt of recognition and understanding shot through me, settling in my belly like a jigger of whiskey, hot and sweet.
    My eyes snapped shut.
    “I can’t feel this way. Whatever magic you’re using, stop it.”
    “My magic won’t work on your heart,” he said. “Or else I’d have used it already, had you dancing back to my wagon like a marionette on a string.”
    “That doesn’t seem very fair,” I said.
    “Truer words were never spoken,” he said, although I felt that we had agreed on different things.
    “My name is Tish Everett. I’m a nurse, and I take care of my grandmother, and I live in an apartment, and I have a cat. This is a dream. Any moment, I’m going to wake up,” I said behind closed eyes, my heart beating in my ears.
    I needed to be free. I needed time to find myself in the safe little cocoon I’d created in my world. I needed to take care of my grandmother, my responsibilities. I didn’t wantto feel a pull like this mystifying longing for a dangerous stranger in his bizarre, bloodthirsty world. It scared me.
    Until he spoke.
    Damn him and his sexy accent.
    “Look at it this way, love. If it’s a dream, then whatever you do here doesn’t count. Dreams are for experiencing things you can’t in real life. You can feel, love, kill with impunity. Nothing matters; dreams are your heart’s playground,” he said, his voice musical and low.
    “And if you’re in another world entirely, then your grandmother and your cat aren’t here. You may never get back. You don’t know how to get back, anyway. You might as well do the best you can here, make whatever life you can. You don’t want to be alone in Sang, believe me.”
    He must have sensed my resolve weakening. The smooth voice went on, insinuating itself into my ears and settling in, growing roots.
    I wanted so badly to give in.
    “Either way, your best bet is to trust me. Come with me. Join me.”
    His voice dropped so low that I could barely hear it.
    “Be my love,” he said.
    I couldn’t tell if it was a question or a command.
    “But why?” I asked. “Why you? Why me?”
    “Let’s just say that we both have our dreams,” he answered. “And sometimes, they take a very long time indeed to come true.”
    The few birds sang in the silence, and I wondered if