Nocturnal by Jacquelyn Frank; Kate Douglas; Jess Haines; Clare Willis

Author:Jacquelyn Frank; Kate Douglas; Jess Haines; Clare Willis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: American Light Romantic Fiction, Romance - Paranormal, Man-woman relationships, Anthologies (multiple authors), Science Fiction & Fantasy, Short stories, Mystery & Detective, American, paranormal, General, Romance, Paranormal romance stories, Erotic Fiction, Fantasy, Romantic suspense novels, Occult fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction And Fantasy, Love stories, Fiction - Romance
ISBN: 9781420109870
Publisher: Zebra Books
Published: 2010-09-15T09:43:06.185000+00:00

Chapter 2

The next night, I was staring unhappily at the black-painted ceiling of one of the quieter lounges in The Underground, cradling a drink I hadn’t touched to avoid letting anyone see how badly my hands were trembling. I was doing my best to keep my eyes off the show on the stage across the room. The S&M theme gave me the willies.

It wasn’t crowded and I wasn’t dressed for the club, and yet, even in my relatively conservative blue jeans and black long-sleeved top, I’d racked up three propositions and five free drinks while waiting. I hadn’t accepted any, because God only knew what kind of offers were attached to drinks in a place like this. Royce was ten minutes late. I was strongly considering leaving.

“What’s a pretty thing like you doing all alone?” trilled a smooth voice. I shifted on the barstool to examine the latest freak to accost me.

He was thin and wiry, with sandy brown hair that he’d slicked back in an attempt to reduce the boyishness of his features. It didn’t work very well. His brown eyes were too sharp and probing to match the carefully casual stance or easy smile he affected, showing a glint of tiny, sharp canines. He looked more overdone than menacing in his black leather pants and billowy white shirt, which created the illusion of broader arms and shoulders. The shirt combined with the bluish tint of the bar lights washed out his already pallid features. He was like a guy from one of those boy bands; he had the potential to be cute if he didn’t try so hard to be cool and suave.

Judging by the look he was going for, I was willing to bet he was some teenager posing as a vampire for the night to pick up girls. Shaking my head in disgust, I pushed back from the bar and picked up my purse. This was the last straw. It was time to leave.

“Ah, I didn’t send the little bird into flight, did I? At least give me a chance. Let me get you a drink,” he offered, rising to follow. Exasperated by his persistence and off balance by the creep-tacular number of passes that had already been made at me tonight, I turned on my heel, folded my arms, and did my level best not to glare at him.

“Look, I’m not here to get picked up. Back off, okay?”

“Ah, is this place making you nervous? I could take you somewhere else. Perhaps you’d prefer the atmosphere at La Petite Boisson?”

If I had been, well, pretty much anyone else, I might have been flattered—okay, floored—by the offer. La Petite Boisson was another of Royce’s properties; a ridiculously pricey, upper-crusty restaurant. I’d heard somewhere the waiting list to get a table was up to four months—for A-list celebrities. Not my kind of place. As Shiarra could attest, I may have come from old money but I was doing my best to stay out of that world. Who

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.