Deadly Is the Kiss Read Free Page A

those in a higher price range, knowing the vampire enjoyed his luxuries. The guy was loaded, which meant he didn’t have to slum it unless necessary. After she’d finished her meal, she’d planned to continue her search, moving from Chelsea and into Kensington. But somehow, he’d found her…and he didn’t look happy about it.
With that furious look burning in his silver eyes, she found herself thinking back to one of their last conversations, when he’d been staying with his friends at her family’s compound in the Wasteland. Everyone was gathering in the dining hall for the evening meal, and she’d been about to enter the room, when Ashe had grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her farther along the stone-lined hallway.
She flinched at the hot feel of his skin and jerked out of his hold, fighting the urge to raise her hand and strike him across the face. The only thing that stopped her was the fact that her family and their friends weren’t far away, and she didn’t want to cause a scene.
“You’re burning up,” she muttered, rubbing the spot on her arm where his hot fingers had gripped her. “Who was it this time?”
He stared down at her through hooded eyes. “Who was what?” he asked in a deceptively lazy drawl.
“No adult, unmated male vampire runs as hot as you are without having gotten off!” Outrage shook her voice, the brittle words scraping her throat. “Did you think to come into my home and just sleep your way through my relatives?”
His tone was dismissive. “They’re not all your relatives,” he pointed out, crossing his muscular arms over his broad chest.
“The women who work here are under my protection! They don’t deserve to get mauled by some oversexed Lothario!”
A husky laugh rumbled in his chest. “I don’t force myself on women, Jules.”
Her lip curled with derision. “Making them false promises is just as bad.”
His eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You flash that perfect smile at them, rattling their brains, and they start thinking they have a chance with you. Not for sex, but for something more.”
“I don’t lead women on,” he growled, finally getting irritated.
A bitter smile twisted her mouth. “Your kind always does. I doubt you even realize you’re doing it. But I won’t be left with a compound full of scorned, heartsick women when you’re gone. I have enough to deal with!”
“You know what your problem is, Jules?” He stepped closer, pointing his finger right at her nose. “You need to get laid.”
“Well, when I do, you can sure as hell bet it will be with someone more honorable than you!”
Fury darkened his eyes. “I was going to talk to you about the compound’s defenses,” he said in a low, carefully controlled voice, “but I won’t waste your time.”
Without another word, he turned and walked away, leaving her standing there in the hallway alone, her throat trembling with a ridiculous burn of tears.
When Juliana had looked for him after she’d sat through dinner with her family, barely managing any of her food, he was nowhere to be found. She’d fought the urge to go knocking on doors, sniffing the hallways, searching for his scent. In truth, she didn’t trust what she would do if she found him in another woman’s bed. And she’d been furious at the way he’d kept interrogating everyone at the compound, determined to learn the reason for their banishment.
No one had told him, but his persistence had made her nervous. There were aspects of her past that she never wanted this man to learn. She had enough blood on her hands without adding his, as well. Not to mention the embarrassment she would feel if he knew just how foolish and naive she’d once been.
Now that she’d come to him for help, she would have to tread carefully with the truth to protect her secrets. She would do everything she could to protect him, but she couldn’t afford to let her emotions get in the way of what was important. There were too