Love Lust Read Free

person I’ve ever known. You have to do this. It will change your entire course. I know it.”
    A little color returned to his cheeks. It gave me enough comfort to steal a glance at the singer. He looked lost somewhere inside the song rather than sitting in the smoky room, strumming a western guitar. His sandy blonde waves fell over his face, barely revealing half-closed eyes.
    “Just breathe,” I told Seth. “It will be okay.” I hugged my arms around him, squeezing tight. He smelled good. Like rain and incense. Wonderfully, yet sadly, normal. “I know it.”
    The song ended and the room erupted in applause. “How am I supposed to compete with that,” Seth said.
    “Trust me. There’s no competition at all.” Despite my reaction and my guilt, in a way the words were true. Seth was a poet, not a singer. He could enthrall a crowd, too. “Just you and your words resonating in every heart in the room, inspiring hope and joy and pain and wonder. Okay?”
    Seth kissed my cheek, love on his lips. I patted him on the shoulder, swallowing the knot in my throat. The stranger looked up from his guitar, his hand resting on the wooden body like on a lover. My breath caught. His eyes met mine. In the dim light, at several feet of distance, they looked like the color of the ocean at dusk. My heart skipped and I became possessive and decided.
    He would be mine.

Chapter Two

    The hip-hop beat and raunchy lyrics called to me. Following him from the café to the dance club was easy. Far easier than pretending he wasn’t in the room all night for Seth’s sake. And though he attracted more than his share of female attention, like most guys, he was a sucker for a schoolgirl skirt. Or maybe for the boots.
    I shouldn’t have come. It was dark out. Though I’d texted Paula an all clear, she’d be mad. We’d promised not to risk being seen in Jimi’s territory.
    Yet here I was, flexing my skills, on the hunt.
    It took little time and only a few sultry looks to get Justin to pull me onto the dance floor. The strobe light scattered dots of light over his skin. Justin. Good name. I liked the way it felt in my mouth and could imagine screaming it out, covered in sweat and satisfaction.
    The navy shirt hugged his broad shoulders. He knew how to move and took command of my hips. Thank God for tall and lean and beautiful men like this. I wanted Justin. Bad.
    No matter how many might deny it, though, men require a steep challenge in order to fall in love. Sex and challenge and more sex. They hate a tease because a tease will win their heart almost every time. If she plays her game right.
    I wasn’t a natural by any means, but I’d learned a few tricks over the course of seven men since acquiring my curse. Being so hungry for more would make it difficult to play hard to get. I wanted Justin’s hands in my hair, his waist in my eye line, his cock in my mouth. All, right there on the dance floor, for everyone to see. He smelled so good. But this wasn’t that kind of club and if it had been, I’d have a lust overdose.
    I had to settle for his nicely-sized erection pressed against my ass as I undulated my hips in rhythm to the pulsing bass. Thank God he was hot. Maybe that’s why fate had dangled him in the first place, forcing me to work for my little gift.
    Feral scent did not necessarily equate to attractive. And, shallow as it might be, I required at least liking what I fed on.
    “God, you’re sexy,” Justin said near my ear, sending delight shivering through my chest. “You trying to make me cum, right here?”
    I loved the idea. And hated it. “Where can we go?” I asked, obeying the music’s demand, swaying against him. I knew where I wanted to go. To the nearest semi-private space with room enough for me to straddle his hips and rock onto his big cock. But I had to be good. My lust might be in control, but my heart was on the line as well.
    Lust-sick, I could take right down to the dry heaves and migraine. Lovesick was just