Secrets of the Jaguar (Crimson Romance) Read Free Page A

nobody could see her, thanks to the dense magnolia tree that kept the inside of her apartment hidden.
    As she walked toward her tiny closet full of jeans and t-shirts, she pondered the unexpected turns of her night. So many questions. The last thing she expected to find the mystery man doing in the midnight hours was swimming in the cold Alameda estuary. Strange. And stranger still was his reaction to her presence. He seemed to have seen her from so far away and then, to make matters even more unbelievable, he got the drop on her.
Just embarrassing. So much for my predator instincts.
    And what was up with his fangs? It was unlikely from his well-groomed appearance that he would be into that kind of thing, and even if he was, why would he wear his fangs while swimming? The whole thing just didn’t add up.
And who pets a wild jaguar? I mean come on, jaguars aren’t even supposed to be in this region. Why didn’t he seem more surprised?
    Her stomach did a flip flop as she remembered his firm grip and the even softer touch that he used to scratch behind her ear. She wished that she had been human, enjoying his caresses as a woman. Perhaps another night of spying would be in order. But for now, it was time to sleep, with a long day of school tomorrow and job hunting to boot. The funds she had saved up from working in Modesto were almost depleted and rent would be due soon.
    That night when sleep claimed Michelle, her dreams were of darkness, accompanied only by the face and the eyes that had born so deeply into her own earlier. The eyes that looked at her as if she were a beautiful, exotic creature. For once, Michelle smiled as she drifted into her dreams.

Chapter Four
    After the strange black jaguar leapt out of view, Duncan went back to his home on the beach, just feet from his encounter with the wild cat on the estuary. Normally he wouldn’t allow anything to get that close to him — he wasn’t in the mood to be clawed — but somehow he felt he had offended the creature.
    What was this exotic jaguar doing in this area? He didn’t imagine it had escaped from the Oakland Zoo. Instead, he figured it must be something more mystical, perhaps a spy for Satan or some other evil being. He found it easy to imagine warlocks with trained jaguars and perhaps flying monkeys like in the
Wizard of Oz
as well.
    He walked through the door of his two-story home on the estuary. The inside was dark with tones of black, gray, and merlot. It probably looked like a typical vampire palette, but he couldn’t help but fancy the romantic hues. The deep crimson drapes that hung heavy against his charcoal walls reminded him not of blood, but of roses, life rather than death. Not that the roses he planted ever lasted very long. Must be bad vampire karma.
    A piano rather than a TV awaited his company in the corner of his living room. His favorite time to play was in the morning as the sun rose. When he moved in, he had large French doors installed so he would always feel that he was outdoors, or easily could be. While seated at the piano, he could enjoy the sight of the water. He loved it most when it was being tossed back and forth by the wind. In the early Alameda hours, the water was often a deep teal, as if to match the low overcast that hid the California sun until noontime. With the doors open, the scents of black licorice and sea foam wafted into his home, enticing his fingers to sweep over the keys, telling tales with musical composition.
    Although he’d traveled much of the world in his years, Alameda was still his home. True, this house was not the one he had grown up in. This very spot would have been underwater in his original life, back when the town was a beach paradise.
    The boardwalk had been a grand carnival of fun for all ages, especially lovers who could indulge themselves by riding the gigantic wooden rollercoaster and clutch onto each other tightly as the coaster swept them up and down along the beach. He had wished he had