Enticed By Blood: A Sweetblood World Vampire Romance Read Free

huge live oak, ripped from its roots, lay across the road, blocking their path.
    “No coverage?” Juliette asked, breaking her silence. She’d hardly said two words to him since they’d left the expressway and worked their way down a multitude of side streets and alleys.
    “I keep getting an all circuits are busy message.”
    “Too many people using their cell phones with this storm, I guess. If you need to get ahold of your wife, you can use my cell. Maybe I’ve got better coverage.”
    She just loved twisting that knife.
    Andre gripped the steering wheel tighter and stared at the downed tree in front of them. Even though the wiper blades were on the fastest setting, they weren’t very effective.
    If only he could tell her the truth, but it was better for both of them if she continued to believe he was married. Thinking he was a cheater was the simplest, most probable solution. It wasn’t like he could tell her why he’d really left.
    “I’m trying to get ahold of someone at the hotel to pick us up from the other side. Otherwise, we’ll need to get out, skirt the tree on foot, and walk the rest of the way.”
    Her eyes widened. “In this rain? In the dark?”
    He wasn’t crazy about it either. He could throw her over his shoulder and sprint with the super-human speed of his kind, but then he’d really have some explaining to do. Or he could go faster by himself, but there was no way in hell he was leaving her alone.
    “Do you have a better idea?”
    “How far away is your hotel?” she asked.
    “Another mile or so.”
    “A mile?” she muttered under her breath. “Here, use mine.” She tossed her phone to him, almost hitting his balls.
    He dialed the hotel again but got the same message.
    “Not good, I take it?” she asked, a curious expression on her face.
    “Looks like we’re on our own. This fucking storm doesn’t look as though it’s letting up anytime soon.” Putting the car into reverse, he backed it up and parked as far away from the other trees as he could, then grabbed the door handle. “Ready?”
    She wore a sleeveless top and no coat. And those heels of hers were going to be a problem. Not only would she be too cold, they’d both be sopping wet by the time they dragged their sorry asses to the hotel.
    She nodded and reached for her briefcase.
    “Leave it. I’ll have someone retrieve the car tomorrow.”
    Wind and rain tore at him as he exited the vehicle. Sprinting to the other side, he made it there before she’d even opened the door. He reached in and helped her out, but the moment they made contact, a jolt of her energy shot up his arm.
    Damn.
    He quickly put up a mental barrier to keep from absorbing more. It would make her too tired and they had a long walk ahead of them.
    He could go for weeks without blood if he had to, but human energy was another story. Since vampires couldn’t go out in the sunlight, they needed to absorb the UV energy from their human hosts. Which was why living at the hotel had worked out so well. He had an endless supply of both blood and energy. A few of the Yelp reviewers mentioned how tired they’d been during their stays but the beds were very luxurious. He could live with that.
    He drew Juliette in close and draped his suit coat over their heads. Her arm remained stiff between them as they ran, though she couldn’t move very fast in those heels. When she stumbled, he grabbed her waist, but she shook him off. She removed her shoes and tried running barefoot, but the rocks underfoot were too sharp, so she put them back on.
    “Climb on my back. We’ll get there much faster.”
    “No,” she said, raising her voice above the howling wind.
    “Why not?”
    “I’m not climbing onto your back. If you want to go on ahead of me, that’s fine.”
    Leaving her alone to walk the rest of the way by herself in this storm was not an option. “Why must you being so stubborn?”
    “I wouldn’t exactly call it being stubborn, ” she said, laughing