Fierce Dawn Read Free Page B

Probably the honey - skinned one with runway legs. Sadie swallowed against the lump in her throat. “Oh?”
    “ Oh and she was wearing the most divine nude lace - up corset and these velvet jockey pants. Divine. I had to get a closer look. And I figured, if she didn’t say his name, I could go up and ask him, you know, compliment her, segue into an introduction. But I didn’t have to.”
    Conversation? Yeah, right. Cajones, Ben did not sport. “So she said his name?” Lovingly? Passionately? Was it too much to hope she wasn’t his girlfriend ?
    “ No. He got a phone call and answered ‘Elijah Stokes’.” Ben paged through a book before sticking it in his cart. “And then she said something about coming back one last time tomorrow, which means today. Come back for what, I couldn’t tell you , but I’ll be trying to find out , if you know what I mean.”
    Last night’s hot kisses came into sharp mental focus. Her first cart alphabetized, Sadie hurried to finish the next. Keeping her hands busy tempered her rapid heartbeat.
    “ So, you’ll never guess who the history department….”
    She tuned Ben out.
    She couldn’t lose control over her reactions. She couldn’t let him see how much the idea of never seeing Elijah again panicked her. She couldn’t reveal all those dreams. And because she wanted to keep her only sort of friend, she couldn’t pad his already extensive Sadie files.
    The books smelled fusty and good, the plastic covers crinkled against her fingertips. Sadie focused on the smells and the lull of Ben’s voice.
    “ I’ll start with this up on main,” Ben said, leaving her two more carts to categorize.
    Sadie nodded and smiled tightly up at him as he strolled to the elevators. Sadie’s rush returned. The seconds crawled by as she waited for the elevator’s ding, the cart’s clank over the threshold, the groan of moving metal. Forever ended and she pushed the pent up energy from her tight lungs in a loud whoosh.
    Alone at last. Well, alone with him—Elijah—at last. Save for the other patrons here and there, or, possibly, his “girl” . A pang shot through her. Was she his girlfriend? Not like Sadie could just go up and flirt with him yet, anyhow. What would she say? “You won’t believe this but I keep having erotic dreams about you. And you can’t keep your hands off me.”
    Yeah, right.
    Five minutes of composure - gathering later, Sadie wheeled her cart in his direction, determined to do what Ben couldn’t. To do what she previously couldn’t. To take a chance.
    Would he notice her first? Maybe he’d look up as she passed and smile. What would she do? Smile back? Wave? What excuse would get her talking to him?
    Nothing big. Chit chat. Or a question.
    He wouldn’t be back either. Ever. The idea kicked panic into her stomach and determination into her heart.
    She’d be med - free within days. Back to the strong woman she was before one minor, totally overblown freak out two years ago. Soon, she’d walk without tripping, speak without stumbling, high kick without falling over.
    She’d be Sadie again. Kickass and confident.
    She’d have a real shot at Elijah. At life.
     
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
    Elijah stood. “We need to leave. Now.”
    “ We can’t. Sadie’s already here. Lyric can arrive, get a feed off of her and we’ll know once and for all.”
    Feed being the word he worried about. Sadie was definitely here. Elijah could feel her getting closer. That hum that was only hers. Like no human he’d ever heard. But far from immortal like Holly so hoped.
    The warning in his gut grew.
    “ We’ll have to head Lyric off and relocate instead.” Damn it all. Damn Crusoe for all of this. If Crusoe hadn’t kept secrets, hadn’t fallen for Holly. If Crusoe and Elijah hadn’t been young together, Elijah would just say goodbye. Too many ifs added up to a different life.
    One that didn’t exist.
    “ There’s no way to tell him. I told him to blend in. Besides,