Blood Secrets-Valorian 1 by Vivi Anna Read Free Book Online Page B

thoughts so they came out coherently. “I will try and remember that so I think before I speak to you.”
    She glanced at him sideways, then nodded. Turning, she wiped her hands on a paper towel and gave him a half smile. “I accept your apology.”
    “And for the record, when I was talking about liabilities, I was in no way referring to you.”
    She gave him a genuine smile, and her face lit up. He thought she looked quite beautiful, even with her hair in disarray. In fact, he preferred her that way. Unkempt, fresh faced and…stunning.

    Clearing his throat again, he looked away and fiddled with a button on his shirt. Where these sudden nerves came from, he didn’t know. He was usually wound tight, confident, unfazed. However, being around this human, with her looking at him the way she was, started to unravel some of his tight threads. And he didn’t like the feeling one bit.
    “And I’m sorry for calling you and your team hostile,” she said as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
    He shook his head. “No need. We are. However, we need to all get along and try to work as a team. I know you are trying.” He smiled at her. “I know we seem like a freak show to you, and I appreciate your professionalism in not letting it get to you.”
    She smiled at him gently, and for a moment it was as if the room had disappeared, as if it was just the two of them standing across from one another in an empty white space.
    Caine felt an intense connection between them. A connection he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
    However, as soon as the moment came, it disappeared.
    “We have to leave soon.” He turned toward the door. “Why don’t you get something to eat, and I’ll meet you in the garage.”
    He left before she could say anything. The moment he was out of the washroom, he took in a deep cleansing breath and rubbed at his eyes. This was going to be one hell of a case, and it had nothing to do with the murder.
    Squeezing his hands into fists, he pushed down the hunger coursing through his body.
    This was not the time or place for his sexual appetites to be rising to the surface. He was close to three-hundred years old, for pity’s sake, and had long ago learned how to control his urges. He had stopped frequenting the Club, hadn’t he, since gaining control over himself? No longer feeling the need for the tension-relieving facilities to regulate his desires, he had revoked his membership.
    However, there was something about the woman that battered at his senses. Something that yanked the bars on his cage. If he wasn’t careful, those metal bars around his desire would dissolve into molten steel and no one would be safe. Especially not a defenseless human woman like Eve.

Chapter 9
    B y the time they drove out of Necropolis and onto I-35 toward San Antonio, the silence was killing Eve. She was normally a quiet, introspective person, but sitting in the same vehicle as Caine, with his spicy cologne tickling her senses, was stretching her nerves. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stay still and pensive.

    She had busied herself looking out the passenger window as they drove down the dark road, but there were only so many road signs that could occupy a person’s mind. There was nothing to see out in the darkened desert. The only thing she could discern were the lights of San Antonio as they approached.
    His presence was starting to affect her. Oh, she’d been careful to avoid eye contact with him—at least as much as was possible, given they worked together, but she found she enjoyed being around him. Although he was uptight, arrogant and seemingly very anal about his office and personal things, she was starting to like him.
    It was obvious to her that his crime investigation team and the law enforcement community respected him. He ran a tight unit and she had been impressed with what he had done with the lab. She’d heard from Lyra that Caine had created most of the systems and procedures. When