2. Darkness in the Blood Master copy MS 5 by Vicki Keire Read Free Book Online Page B

caffeine withdrawal you’d go through. It wouldn’t be pretty.” He locked his hands in a tight circle around my waist, drawing me closer. “It’s really kind of a nightmare in the bookstore. Mr. Roth had his own system for cataloguing everything, and not even Calla can understand it. We’re trying to sort it out, but it’s a mess.”
    Calla was Mr. Roth’s pink-haired niece. She was the only other employee of Whitfield’s one and only bookstore. I felt a twinge of jealousy at the thought of the two of them working together, alone, for long stretches of time. It’s just a stupid job, I told myself fiercely and pushed it away. “Still, be careful. Don’t work too hard, ok?” I thought about all those heavy stacks of books, all the piles of disorganized papers he could trip over, and shuddered. “Are you sure it’s something you’re comfortable with? I mean if you want to wait, we’ll work it out.”
    “Wait for what?” he asked. I was so close. It would take only the slightest movement to carry me upwards into kissing distance. Instead, I kept my eyes on the hollow of his throat.
    “You know,” I said, watching his pulse beat. “Until you’re… you get your balance back, I guess,” I finished lamely.
    I felt his low rumble of laughter all across my chest. “You make my being human sound like a particularly bad bike wreck.” He touched his forehead to mine. “Believe it or not, I like this job. Funny, isn’t it? Immortal beings aren’t supposed to think about things like money and the electric bill and paying for dates. But I did. There I was, all-powerful, and I couldn’t even take you out to dinner. To me, this is one of the best parts of being human.” He replaced his forehead with a soft kiss. “Buying you things.”
    “But I don’t want anything,” I protested.
    “I know. You truly don’t.” He looked puzzled and pleased all at once. “Sometimes you run out of paint, but that’s not the same thing.” He suddenly seemed very smug. “It’s all right, though. I have my sources.”
    “Ok,” I said uneasily. “But it’s still not worth hurting yourself over, not even for something you think I might want.”
    “Actually, working at the bookstore is like taking a break from how hard everything else is. I’m not sure why.” He leaned back against the door, thinking, while I tried not to show how much his words stung. “It has something to do with how quiet it is. And not many people come in. So there’s no sensory overload to deal with, and no…” he paused as if searching for words, then shrugged it off. “Nevermind. It doesn’t make sense.”
    “No, what?” I asked, intrigued. “If it helps you in some way, then I want to know, Ethan. Even if it doesn’t make sense.”
    “Some people are more… confusing… than others. But in different ways. Some hurt my head when I’m around them. I’m clumsier around some people than others.” He gave out a short, humorless laugh. “Some make my senses go haywire, like I’ll feel thirsty around someone, or cold around someone else. Sometimes it’s emotional, like fear or even…” he shot me a quick sideways glance. “Jealousy.”
    Uh-oh. I tried very hard not to think of Calla.
    “And there’s no logic to it. It’s not always the same people, or even the same effect,” he continued, running his fingers through his hair, clearly frustrated.
    “And that doesn’t happen here?” I pressed.
    “Not nearly as much,” he admitted. “It’s just quieter. Unless a bunch of other people come in. Then I just disappear into the back, and Calla handles it.” He raised an eyebrow. “I think she thinks I’m pathologically shy.”
    “What about me?” I asked, almost afraid of the answer.
    His smile twisted something inside me. I realized for the hundredth time how much this man could break me if he wanted. “You do unbalance me,” he said, tugging on my fingertips. “From time to time.”
    “Really,” I breathed.