Damned and Defiant by Kathy Kulig Read Free Book Online Page B

afraid,” he said defensively. “They’re just not used to me yet. I travel a lot on business.” He dropped her duffle in a chair. Silence grew thick between them.
    “What type of consulting do you do?”
    Dante hesitated. “Accounting for small businesses.”
    “Somehow I don’t see you as a sit-behind-the-desk accountant.” She studied him, wondering if he was lying to her.
    Dante smiled a little at that. “Thanks for doing this.”
    “I’ll do the best I can.” He nodded and was looking at her that way again that made her legs feel like rubber and her body heat up. Two weeks of this and she’d go mad. “I’ll also have a chance to take psychic photos.”
    “Psychic photos?”
    She grinned. “Pictures of orbs, auras and other supernatural forces.”
    He gave her a puzzled expression.
    She laughed. “I know, most people don’t believe in that stuff. If I get any good pictures, I’ll show you. If I’m successful, I might open my own photography business. That’s what I’d really like to do.”
    “And do horse whispering on the side,” he added. But she didn’t think he was mocking her.
    “Why not? If I can help people. It’s a good thing, right?” The longer he stood beside her, the more weak-kneed she felt and the more she wanted to get him naked.
    Instinctively, she surrounded herself with white light. She did this little exercise whenever she got nervous, every time she got into a car, or felt negative vibes from people she met.
    He rubbed the back of his neck and stretched, then got up and picked up her duffle from the chair. “It’s late.”
    “The silence out here might keep me awake. I’m used to hearing people moving around in the neighboring apartments or cars in the street.” She was doing it again. Rambling because she was nervous.
    He shrugged. “I had six brothers and five sisters. We didn’t get much privacy when I was younger.”
    “Had? Don’t you see them?”
    “The kitchen is through there.” He pointed past the dining table. “Help yourself if you get hungry. Your room is this way.” He walked down a long hallway, pointing out the bathroom and his room, then entered a spare bedroom. Flicking on a wall switch, he dropped her duffle on the bed. A lamp on a bedside table, next to a queen-size bed illuminated the room. “Will this be okay for you?”
    “This is great. A big room and a beautiful house. I’ve never lived in a house before.”
    “No? Where did you live?” He moved over to the curtains and closed them, then moved up close again, so close she could feel his heat. God, she wanted him bad. Chest and arm muscled bulged against his T-shirt. She stuffed her hands inside her pockets.
    “I grew up in Texas. Our place wasn’t as nice as this though.”
    “Anything else you need?”
    “No.” She didn’t take her eyes from him. Her belly quivered and her womb clenched. God, her panties were soaked. She wanted to say, Yes! Make love to me. You almost did once a long time ago in the desert.
    He looked at her for a long time, and she fought a touch of vertigo. Dante closed his eyes as if he was struggling with something. Maybe he wanted to kiss her. Abruptly, he turned for the door. “Good night.”
    “Dante,” she breathed and grabbed his arm. A wave of dizziness surged through her.
    He jerked his arm away and looked up at her almost resentfully. “What?” His words were sharp.
    She swallowed, about to change her mind. “You were there that time in the desert when I had sunstroke. Sakari and Brad were there too.”
    He glanced down at the floor. “Is that what she told you?”
    “She won’t tell me either way. I keep remembering parts of it. I don’t think it was sunstroke. I don’t remember hiking in the desert that day. Sometimes I see an underground room and feel pain, darkness and you holding me. Maybe it was the heat, but it seems so real.”
    He raised his eyebrows. “Hmmm. Hallucinations can seem quite real especially when you’re