Yearnings: A Paranormal Romance Box Set Read Free Page B

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, when he went off radar, he went all in. No devices, nothing.”
    Affection for Crusoe bound Lyric, Holly and Elijah together. Even now they remained entangled around what he meant to them. “My gut tells me this is a bad idea, Holly.”
    The clanging metal cart shouted Sadie’s arrival two rows away. Her gaze warmed his skin, her breathing whispered in the quiet hush of the building’s air conditioning system. Her heartbeat drummed higher. Lyric would be here any moment. Elijah had to move fast.
    “ She’ll be in danger.” Elijah stole a glance Sadie’s way. She looked away but held her head high. Bright eyes, a full mouth. Blue flecks of something along her cheek. “We have to leave.”
    “ Can you at least let him get up here first?” Holly asked, but stood as well.
    Lyric’s low, sickening sound approached in the nearby stairwell. Elijah collected his energy inward, pressing it down to prepare to repel Sadie. Holly did the same, her glowing tendrils nearly banking though her eyes , smoldered as they held to his. Elijah came around the table to head off Lyric.
    A quick check in Sadie ’s direction revealed nervous hope in her expression and clear intent in her vibration. Not good. She intended to approach him. Sober now or always, Sadie presented a quick, delicious feeder fix with all that emotion. “I don’t want him reading her. Not yet.”
    Holly’s eyes flashed. “A little trust, Elijah.” She grabbed his