Vampires' Consort: Magical Menages, Book 2 Read Free

had when she’d first met him. He was wearing a plain white Oxford button down over another T-shirt. Apparently, the man liked layers and long sleeves even in this humid Florida weather.
    “How long have you worked for Mr. Kaspan?” She watched a flicker of emotion chase across his face like a cloud on a windy day.
    “Too long,” he said dryly.
    “You don’t like him?”
    The corner of his mouth drew up and his eyelids slightly lowered. “That’s beside the point.”
    Oh, so their relationship went beyond employer and employee. She could sense sex in those bedroom eyes. Gay, then? But no, she’d definitely caught an appreciative look in his eyes when he’d examined her and she was rarely wrong about male interest in her. He must bat for both teams.
    “You’re tired of him, but you can’t leave him,” she guessed.
    A quick widening of his eyes told her she’d nailed the crux of their relationship with one blow.
    “Mr. Kaspan is a fair employer. I’m compensated well for what I do.” He went stiff and formal trying to backpedal from that admission of “too long”, but it was too late. Akila had glimpsed an emotion, a disgruntled impatience he preferred to keep hidden from his boss and possible lover. This knowledge gave her a little bit of power and she liked that.
    Settling back into the comfortable seat, she took a sip from the bottled water Jacob had given her. “It’s all right. Your secret’s safe with me. I know what it’s like to get that ‘moving on’ feeling but not be ready to go yet. It happens in both jobs and relationships.”
    “You’re very perceptive.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Sometimes it’s better to keep your perceptions to yourself.” He turned the full force of his gaze on her and Akila suddenly felt like a child who’d been prodding a lion with a stick.
    “You really have no idea who or what you’re dealing with,” he added. “A wise man keeps his mouth shut and his ears open.”
    God, she just couldn’t help herself. She had to poke again. “But a wise woman ferrets out the truth by asking the right question.”
    She could hear herself being obnoxious, but couldn’t turn it off. When she was nervous she grew even more smart-assed than usual. And despite her attempts to appear at ease, she was pretty damn nervous right now. Her mother used to say her outspokenness would get her into trouble some day. This might just be that day.
    “Sorry. You’re right, I don’t know anything about you or your…employer.” Akila tried to patch things up and even then she couldn’t help the little pause that gave the word “employer” a whole other meaning. “But you could tell me something about him. I’d like to know a little about what I’m walking into.”
    Jacob paused a long moment. “There’s really nothing I’m at liberty to say. Mr. Kaspan will explain everything.”
    She could tell it was his final word on the matter so she stopped poking and looked out the window at the azure sky above and the sapphire water below. A few seconds later a blob of green appeared in the water. She’d barely had time to decide it was an island and not some coral reef beneath the water when the plane approached a bone-white landing strip. Akila braced herself as if they were coming in for a crash landing. Here we go. What in the hell have I gotten myself into?
    The plane touched down, light as a feather, and rolled to a stop.
    Jacob rose and ushered her from her seat. “This way, Miss Massri.”
    They descended the steps of the plane and Akila stood for a moment, absorbing the tropical sun’s heat and the glorious view that lay before her.
    Fantasy Island, indeed. The place was pure paradise. From the airstrip she could see bleached sand and gently breaking surf on one side, emerald green foliage laced with showy tropical blooms on the other.
    Jacob carried her bags to a golf cart. They climbed inside and zipped along a path through the trees. The track climbed upward in the cool