Ahead of the Darkness by Simone Nicole Read Free Book Online

eyes flicked to my teeth still nibbling my lip. “—not gay.” He leaned forward, his hand coming up to my face and I froze, eyes wide. He gently gripped my chin and used his thumb to release my lower lip.
    “Ye cannae be doing that now ...” Now? He lifted his gaze from my lips to stare through me, and I saw it. The want. Then he laughed.
    “I thought ye made it bleed. It’s just hot sauce.” To prove his point he wiped at my lip, his thumb coming away dirty. I opened my mouth to comment but lost all train of thought as he lifted his thumb to his own mouth and sucked it. My insides quivered and I involuntarily sucked in air, clenching my thighs tight. Drew’s lip curled up at the side, pronouncing the dimple.
    “Delicious.”
    He knew exactly what he was doing to me, the arse. I closed my mouth, which had been slightly open, and raised an eyebrow at him.
    “I cannae resist Tabasco sauce.” He chuckled under his breath.
    “You missed a bit...” Before he could put his hand down. I reached for it. He froze as I closed my fingers around his thumb. I internally smiled with victory.
    “Just ...” I slowly lifted his thumb closer to my mouth, his gaze glued to my lips the whole time. He swallowed. Just before his thumb made contact with my mouth I squeezed tabasco sauce into his open palm and dropped his hand like it was on fire. “—here.” I laughed so hard tears came to my eyes. That will teach him to play with my libido.
    He looked at his hand in stunned silence, for all of three seconds. A playful fury lit his eyes as he looked back to me. Oh God ...
    “No, no.” I quickly stumbled out of my chair and went to duck for cover behind the bench. Drew was right on my tail as he picked up a handful of scrambled eggs with his covered Tabasco sauced hand.
    “Ye cannae hide, love.”
    “Drew! You can’t. It’s too clean. I’m too clean, and...and you went to all that trouble to wash my clothes. Which ... was a little weird, by the way.” I’d stupidly backed myself up against the fridge. Drew was three steps away from me when he stopped, and raised his hand at the ready.
    “Drew!”
    “Aye...I guess it was a wee bit strange. I dinnae sleep much, and I felt bad at ye having to put them on to go home.” He shrugged, seeming uncomfortable.
    “You are strange Drew...?”
    “McKinley. It’s Andrew McKinley but if ye call me Andrew, I’ll skin ye alive.”
    I smiled. “I think I can manage that.” He lowered his hand and I laughed. “Ah, Drew? You’re dripping on the floor.”
    “Ah, bollocks.” He rushed to dump it in the sink as I found some paper towels on the bench and begun cleaning the floor.
    “I am sorry about that. Actually, not really. That was a little funny.”
    “Aye, who would have thought ye had a sense of humour.” He smiled down at me on the floor and I stood up, dusting myself off.
    “Yes, who would have thought it, but let’s keep that to ourselves. I have a reputation to uphold. After all, the French aren’t known for their mirth.” I smiled a small, genuine smile.
    “Yer French?”
    “Oui, well, half French. My mother...”
    “Do ye speak it?”
    “ Oui, je parle couramment le français, l'ont fait depuis que j'ai été un enfant .” I laughed at his blank stare.
    “Yeah, I dinnae know much French other than, bonjour, ça va , and ye know, the bad words. What did ye say?”
    “I’ve spoken French since I was a child, there abouts.”
    “Aye, my parents taught me Gaelic, but I nae spoken any since...I was a wee bairn. Well, I guess I speak Scottish too.”
    “Aye. Sometimes I cannae understand ye.” He laughed, my attempt at imitating him much better than last night. I cringed as that memory resurfaced.
    “Yes, well I do try to rein it in when at work, but it seems to slip when I’m around ye. It’s worse when I’m drunk, mind. Ye cannae understand a thing. Just ask Jules tonight.”
    “Tonight?”
    “Aye, at the club. Unless ye changed yer mind? Did ye