Daric's Mate Read Free Page A

man, but everyone in Temple knew who he was, and there wasn’t a single person in town who wanted to piss him off. Hannah wasn’t sure if they were in awe of the man…or his money. She’d heard he was a giant, a man who would dwarf her own five-foot-nine height. Personally, she’d never seen him, having left Temple before he moved here, but she had heard tales of his monstrous orders from various small businesses in town, especially the food orders. There wasn’t much to choose from as far as restaurants in town, but Mr. Carvillius seemed to prefer Temple’s, and Hannah wanted to keep it that way. The business turned a profit, being one of the few eateries in town, but she couldn’t afford to screw up with one of her best customers.
    How could any one man consume this much food? And why was he offering so much money just for delivery?
    She shrugged, preparing the massive orders of breadsticks for the oven, reminding herself to add plenty of sauce to the order. She knew the man was eccentric from the information she had gathered over the months. He placed massive orders like this frequently. And he paid. What did it matter why he did it?
    Hannah picked up her pace, working as quickly as she could on her battered leg. Mr. Carvillius had not sounded happy on the phone and she had definitely offended him. She needed to move her ass, try to stay in his good graces.
    Obviously, the man was bossy, used to getting his own way. He might have reminded her of Mark…but he didn’t. Not in the slightest. Mark was whiny, getting his way by manipulation and guilt. Hannah didn’t think that was really Mr. Carvillius’s style. He sounded like a man who got his way by complete domination rather than manipulation.
    God, his voice was sexy.
    He had a low, commanding baritone that had sent tingles of heat throughout her entire body, a voice that meant business, expecting to be obeyed whenever he spoke.
    He probably looks like a sumo wrestler if he eats like this!
    Slamming one of the ovens closed with her hip, she turned and began to start boxing up food. Somehow, she just couldn’t match that voice with the body of a sumo wrestler.
    That’s because his voice made your panties wet.
    Yeah, his voice was most definitely hot. But it wasn’t just his voice; it was the strength she sensed behind the voice.
    Shaking herself slightly, Hannah forced herself to stop fantasizing about her best customer. Seriously, it was ridiculous to read so much into a sexy voice and domineering tone. The man could be an eighty year old bald guy for all she knew.
    Smiling, she began to wrap up the order, her mind more at ease as she pictured a large, sweet old man with a husky voice, waiting for his enormous delivery.
    Yeah. Better.
    It was so much easier to picture Daric Carvillius in a non-threatening way. And so much safer.
    Wiping the memory of that compelling voice from her head, she kept her attention on getting the order correct and keeping Mr. Carvillius’s business in the future.
    *****
    Daric heard the crash over an hour later, the unmistakable sound of twisting metal. He probably shouldn’t have noticed it, wouldn’t have noticed it if he had been human, the howling wind so loud that it drowned out every other sound. But he was vampire, and he had no problem discerning the disturbing noise that filtered through the battering wind.
    He’d been cursing the fact that he had actually called someone to drive through the raging blizzard, an epic storm that he had gleaned information about only after turning on the television to wait for his food. Finally, he had concluded that there was no way someone was coming to deliver. He had basically been waiting for a call from Temple’s telling him that they couldn’t fill his order or they just wouldn’t show.
    The area had been pounded with snow throughout the day and evening, visibility almost nil.
    Barefoot, dressed in nothing more than a ragged pair of jeans, Daric crashed out his front door,