Fateful 2-Fractured Read Free Page A

toes of her black stilettos.
She reminded Danielle of the fairies she’d met with Ethan, and
could picture her glowing pink with sparkly translucent wings.
    “And this is Eva, Seth’s wife,” Cedric
said.
    Of course, she never looked at Danielle
either. Eva had smooth black hair styled gracefully on top of her
head, an exotic olive complexion and a thick fringe of lashes. Her
gaze was fixed on Danielle’s boots, so Danielle was uncertain of
her eye color. For anyone who didn’t know better, they would think
Eva was behaving rather snobbishly.
    Eva reached a hand out. “Hello, Danielle
darling. It is an honor to meet the one who discovered the cure. I
may need to take you up on it someday.” She sounded French to
Danielle.
    “Oh, thanks. Uh, just let me know if or when
you’re ready.”
    “Thank you, dear.”
    “You’re welcome.” Danielle restrained a
shiver. The discussion of biting Eva right before she went to eat
sushi made her feel a tad queasy.
    Ethan gathered her fingers and settled her
hand in the crook of his elbow as he looped his other arm around
her waist. She was forced to take a step backward as he said, “Come
on, Danielle, we need to get started or we’ll be late for the
picture.”
    As she and Ethan were seated, she noticed
that the others split up, rather than request a table for eight.
Four of them remained outside, while the other four got tables.
    Nadia, Max, Beon and Sophia had come inside
and were being seated at separate tables on either side of the
dining room. Probably so that she and Ethan were in the center.
    Her gaze met with Max’s as she watched them,
and he winked at her, probably trying to get a rise out of Ethan,
but he got slapped playfully in the arm by Nadia instead. The
black-haired beauty likely knew what he was doing. Because of the
brotherly type of relationship Ethan and Max had, they were always
roughhousing and trying to annoy each other. Plus, Ethan had been
jealous of the knight in the past.
    “Danielle, how many times have I asked you
to not flirt with him?” And apparently he might still be
jealous.
    “I’m not.” She giggled. “Nadia just smacked
him for winking at me. It’s funny.”
    “It’s not funny. She should punch him. The
cad knows he has the good looks of a knight and how that affects
the girls.”
    “He’s just trying to rub you the wrong way,
and you let it work. He might still look like a knight,” and he
certainly did, if she was honest, “but you have that British hottie
thing going for you.”
    “So does that mean that rogue over there has
a British knight hottie thing going for him?” Ethan growled, though
she could hear the teasing in his tone, and was relieved.
    “Oh, stop being jealous, it’s completely
unfounded and you know it.”
    Ethan rolled his eyes at that, but
smirked.
    “Just order sushi, Ethan, and during the
movie I’ll remind you why you shouldn’t be so jealous.”
    He tried to stop the foolish grin that
overtook his mouth, but failed as the smile reached his eyes.
    Danielle laughed again.
    “So what would you like?” Ethan asked, his
gaze traveling over the open menu he held.
    She scanned the dishes, looking for things
she used to choose in Colorado. Sushi was something she liked, a
little, but she was picky about it. In truth, she probably
preferred Chinese and noticed that this restaurant served a mix of
both. “I want the egg-flower soup and a Vegas roll.”
    “That’s all?”
    “That’s more than enough.”
    “All right.” Ethan’s words were tainted with
a ring of disappointment. Apparently he still thought she needed
large portions to survive. Danielle rolled her eyes this time.
    When the waiter arrived, Ethan ordered
for both of them, ordering way too much for himself, however. After
the waiter left, she said, “You’ll never be able to eat all of
that, and if you do, you’ll be so sick. You’d be smart to save room for popcorn.”
    Ethan’s mouth tightened, like he planned to
say