Love For Hire Read Free Page B

forgotten what a pleasant sound it was? Distantly, he noted huge trees, probably quite old to have grown into their current size, and for a moment, he stared at them in wonder. Trees… real live healthy trees. His fingers itched. He wanted to reach out, capture their unique colors and commit them to canvas for the whole world to see.

    The room was fully furnished, but it appeared as if no one was actually using it, because there were no personal items to speak of. On the nearby shelves, only emptiness stared back at him, and it appeared that the easy chair by the window had never been used.

    Even without having a look inside the wardrobe, he decided there probably weren’t any clothes in there either. It was made of dark wood, and he was no expert, but it looked sturdy and expensive enough for it to be an antique piece.

    The floor was tiled and sparkling and his bed was large and comfortable, big enough to allow room for at least two people to sprawl out in it, should they so desire.

    Jayden blinked away some moisture around his eyes, cursing his tendency to let his emotions to run away with him. It wasn’t manly to cry easily—at least that was what his father had delighted in telling him—but no amount of his special kind of persuasion to get Jayden to stop had done any good.

    The blond man was staring intensely at him. Jayden knew if he allowed his tears to fall freely, it would paint him in a bad light, and for some reason he couldn’t figure out, he wanted Blondie to like him and to respect him. His mind supplied him with the image of a small puppy eagerly wagging its tail, and he immediately squashed the ridiculous notion, because he wasn’t pathetic enough to fall for someone just because they had shown him some kindness.

    Wait a minute , Jayden thought, fear slowly crystallizing in the pit of his stomach, giving him the feeling that he had swallowed a stone. Why wasn’t he in a hospital? He had gotten stabbed, for crying out loud! Why had this guy taken him home instead? What did he want?

    A strand of dark hair dislodged itself, falling over Jayden’s eyes, and before he could brush it away, a strong hand reached out, doing it for him. This time Jayden blinked in confusion, and when the slender but still strong fingers came back, gently caressing his face before running through his hair, all he could do was look dumbly at the man sitting at his bedside.

    “You’re in my home,” he finally answered Jayden’s question, “and I need your help.”

    Jayden’s eyes widened, because what kind of help could he possibly want from someone like him?

    “The way I see it,” Blondie continued, his voice rumbling through Jayden, sending shivers down his spine. This was just odd, because Jayden had never reacted to a man like this before. As a matter of fact, he had never reacted to anyone in this manner, and it sort of threw him for a loop.

    He stared at the blue eyes of his rescuer. He hadn’t been delusional before; the color was really pretty indeed.

    Huh, was he perchance dosed up on the good stuff? He blinked, trying to gauge if he was on any medication. But despite the pretty eyes, there was something about the guy that had the tiny hairs at the back of Jayden’s neck standing up. He wasn’t given to flights of fancy, but in his short life he had learned a few things. Maybe this made him cynical or world-weary, as some might call it, but he knew a pretty package could hide a mean and downright evil spirit underneath the good-looking mask. And there was something else in those pretty blue eyes: a coldness that didn’t quite match the handsome face.

    Maybe it was a buried sixth sense all humans had when faced with predators. With a slight shake of his head, Jayden dismissed those thoughts as crazy talk. He couldn’t deny that being around his father had always made him feel wary, and even though so far the stranger had done nothing but rescue him, the alarm bells in his head were still going