Dalton, Tymber - Love and Brimstone [Brimstone Vampires 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Free Page B

you should have seen the stewardess on the plane.”
    “I thought you were going to take the corporate jet from Mexico City?” Matthias had left Rafael behind to finish the cleanup operation.
    He shook his head. “Met this cute little coed from a cruise ship in Veracruz. You should’ve seen her—”
    “I’m sure.” Matthias rolled his eyes and put the severed head back in the bag. “And your date tonight?”
    Rafe shrugged. “I can’t help it if the customs agent was a cutie.”
    “What did she see in your bag?”
    “Bowling ball.”
    Matthias shook his head and laughed as he sat. “I’ll have Albert send it to the lab for testing and an ID workup. It bothers me that one of them was hooking up with a daemon pulverem .”
    “Bothers you ?” Rafe flexed his left arm. “Screw that! You aren’t the one who got shot, big guy.”
    “How is it, anyway?”
    “I’ve been better, but it’s nearly healed. Still stiff.” He unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt to show the pink scar where the slug had entered his shoulder two days prior. “What the hell did you eat, anyway? You tasted, no offense, cuz, weird.”
    “No weirder than the time I got sliced open in Dublin and you’d been out drinking that afternoon. I had a hangover for three damn days, thanks to you.”
    “Ah, but you were alive to suffer.” Rafe grinned.
    Matthias smiled. “And so are you. I told you we shouldn’t have eaten at that place for lunch. You insisted.”
    “Oh, yeah.” He looked at Matthias’ desk and sat up. “What’s that?” He pointed to a picture.
    Matthias slid it across the desk. Rafe picked it up, a low whistle escaping him. “Wow,” he said, his voice dropping. “That’s her?”
    Matthias sat back and templed his fingers. “That’s her.”
    Rafe studied the picture for a long moment. “I know you said…but she’s…wow.”
    Matthias took the picture back. “And now you understand.”
    Rafael looked stunned. “Yeah. Congratulations.”
    “That’s a little premature. We haven’t even brought her in yet.”
    “When?”
    He shrugged. “When Tim tells me the time is right. I’ve waited this many years for her. I can wait a little longer. Maybe next month. Even then, who knows? There’s no guarantee she’ll even want to know me, much less have a relationship with me. This could have been an exercise in futility on my part.”
    Rafe studied his hands. “On second thought, maybe I’ll fly home tonight. Take the corporate jet back to Atlanta.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know. I am pretty tired.”
    Matthias studied Rafe for a long moment before speaking. When he did, his voice sounded soft, kind. “Rafe, she’s been dead for—”
    Rafe held up a hand and smiled. “Don’t want to go there tonight, Matts. Sorry. I don’t feel like revisiting the past. You dealt with Sarah in your way, and I’ll deal with my shit in mine, okay?”
    Matthias nodded. “All right.” He stepped around the desk and hugged Rafe. “See you next weekend at the Florida house?”
    Rafe patted Matthias on the back before stepping away. “Yeah, I’ll be down. You’re going to drive me to the dealership, right?”
    “It’s in?”
    Rafael’s face broke into a huge grin. “You should see it! The salesman e-mailed me a picture. It’s a sweet ride. I test-drove one like it last month, but they didn’t have the color I wanted.”
    “I’ll take your word for it. I prefer the original Mustangs myself.”
    “It’s a Shelby Mustang GT500, man. T he most powerful production model Mustang ever. It’s not ‘just’ a Mustang, Matts.” He stepped to the door as his face clouded again. “I’ll see you later then.”
    Matthias nodded, and when he was alone, he returned to his desk and stared at her picture. He’d never shown it to Rafael before and wasn’t sure why he did tonight. He sighed and returned it to his desk. From the moment he first saw her picture when she turned twenty-five, he knew she was the one for