Evil Allure by Rhea Wilde Read Free Book Online Page B

embarrassed, Ariel. He’s hot.”
    “I’m not embarrassed. I—”
    May was smirking at me and despite my best efforts, shaking my head and rolling my eyes weren’t enough to stop me from blushing.
    “Let’s just hurry up and clean everything up,” I said. “I want to go to sleep already.”
    “You’re the boss.”
    I finished cleaning the entire bar with everybody else and collected the small amount of tips I made for the night. Everybody had gone home and when I stepped out of the bar, I was alone again. But only for a moment. Vaughn walked up to me with a polite smile on his face.
    “Hello, Ariel.”
    “Hi…”
    “I was wondering… If it wouldn’t be too forward if I walked you home… Or to wherever it was you’re going. If you don’t mind the company.”
    I thought about it but only to not make it so obvious to him. I appreciated his company not just because he made me feel safe but because I realized I was beginning to find myself attracted to him. His charming smile. His impressive frame underneath his clothes. May was right. Even though I would never say it out loud, he was hot.
    Trying to play it cool, I looked at him and slowly nodded my head.
    “I live just down this way.”

Chapter 6
    I didn’t know what to think exactly. The city had never seemed less inviting after what had happened last night. Making my way home was becoming more of a thrill than I could ever want it to be.
    Tonight, though, I felt much safer. Just knowing that Vaughn was right there next to me was enough to detract anybody from even approaching us. At least, that’s what I’d hoped.
    I didn’t know what to expect in the first place but it was different watching Vaughn walk right next to me. He seemed a lot taller than he did when I first saw him. His strides were long but not lunges. His posture was perfect, his chest puffed out as he walked forward. I tried not to stare too much at him, worried that he might catch me.
    I looked up into the sky and felt the cool night breeze blow across my face.
    “It’s a new moon,” he said suddenly.
    “What?”
    “In the night sky,” he said while pointing up at it. “Do you see the moon? You can barely make its outline. That’s why it’s so dark now. There’s no moonlight.”
    “I see… So when are we going to see the moon again?”
    “It’ll start to peek out tomorrow. And it’ll be full in a couple of weeks. Why? Do you like the moonlight, Ariel?”
    “It doesn’t hurt,” I said. “It’s nice to see things that you wouldn’t normally be able to see. Especially with how crappy these streetlights are. What about you, Vaughn?”
    “I like the moonlight,” he said. “The way it illuminates the city at night does make it easier to see. But sometimes it casts a shadow over some things. Some things that you don’t really want to see.”
    His answer was more than cryptic but I figured that was who he was at this point. Just some mysteriously good-looking man who happened to stroll into the bar that I worked at.
    “You sure know a lot about moons,” I said to him. “Is that what you do all day? Are you an astronomer who studies the stars?”
    “No,” he said with a chuckle. “I don’t know much about anything else. I work down on the docks. A lot of ships import and export things. In the morning or at night. I have to know the cycle of the moon to know how much light we’re getting or how the tides will be.”
    “The docks? What is it you do exactly?”
    “I load and unload all of the containers on and off the ships.”
    “It sounds like a lot of hard work.”
    “It is but they need all the help they can get, which is why I’m out there. It’s honest. I can’t complain about my pay. It’s a living.”
    He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would be doing menial labor. The way he spoke. The way he walked. Even the way he looked at me. All of it seemed like he was more than just some guy who was working a regular job and trying to make ends meet.