Hot Summer Bites: A Castle of Dark Dreams Novella (A Penguin Special from Berkley Sensation) by Nina Bangs Read Free Book Online

her sanity, because this whole scene was too bizarre to be real.
    “I’ll get this back to you tomorrow.”
Asima dragged the scarf to the door that still stood open. She paused before leaving.
“Give Taurin a chance. He’s a nice guy who’s had some bad breaks. Everyone needs something good to happen to them at least once every few centuries.”
    Every few centuries? While Kristin stared blankly, Asima padded into the hallway, her waving tail a satisfied question mark above her back. The door closed with a quiet
click
.
    Ohmigod, ohmigod! Clambering from the bed, Kristin rushed to the door, stubbing her toe on a chair along the way. Ow! Definitely awake. She was panting by the time she reached the door. Hyperventilating wouldn’t help anything. She checked to make sure the door was locked and then slid the chain across it.
    Why was she doing this? Locks wouldn’t keep Asima out. And what other kinds of “beings” roamed the dark halls of the castle? Beings that would think of a lock as a minor annoyance.
    Kristin stumbled back to her bed, fell onto it, and pulled the covers over her head. She lay there curled into a fetal position with her teeth chattering. Just great. The biggest story of her freaking career, and she was never coming out from under these covers.
    The first thing Kristin saw when she woke was the clock. Three o’clock. She groaned. She must’ve been exhausted to sleep half the afternoon away.
    Then she remembered—Saffron, Taurin, Asima, and Eric who could take away her memory if she proved not to be a “reasonable” woman. If she ran downstairs right now and found Eric, would he take his little pink eraser to her memory of last night?
    A loud pounding on her door distracted her from thoughts of Eric and erasers. The knocking was what must’ve awakened her. Who was on the other side? One of the castle’s many “beings”? Taurin? She ignored her sudden spurt of excitement. No chance. If he was what she suspected—please, please don’t let him be
that
—he wouldn’t rise until dark.
    Kristin mentally pushed aside the panicked shouts of her common sense urging her to pack her bags and get her tail out of town. She’d waited her whole career for a story like this. It had everything—sex, nonhuman entities, and a compelling setting.
    She crawled out of bed, pulled on her robe, and walked to the door. Yes, nonhuman entities. Somewhere during the sleepless early hours of the morning—it’d been seven the last time she’d looked at her clock—she’d accepted the reality of what she’d experienced. Except for Taurin. Now she had to deal with it.
    Kristin put her ear to the door. “Who’s there?” At least she knew it wasn’t Asima. Asima didn’t knock.
    “Banan.” Sexy male voice.
    “Are you a vampire?”
    Long pause. “No.”
    “How about a cat?”
    “No.” Sounded insulted.
    “Do you have all your clothes on?”
    A longer pause. “If that’s what you want.”
    With a huff of impatience, Kristin pulled open her door.
    After meeting Taurin and Eric, she wasn’t surprised to see another great-looking guy, but Banan was something more. He was scary. That, of course, lowered his rating on her personal hot-hunk scale.
    “I don’t see a pot of fresh-brewed coffee in your hand, so I assume you have the wrong room.”
    As tall as Taurin and Eric, he wore his khaki shorts and sleeveless T-shirt well. They showcased his broad shoulders and strong arms and legs. He was all lean, sculpted muscle.
    “Oh, I have the right room, Kristin.” He smiled.
    Uh-oh. Unease danced along her nerves. What was it about this guy? For a start, he had long pale hair that almost reached his butt. It should’ve looked lank and limp. It should’ve made him look sort of feminine. It should’ve made him look washed-out. It did none of the above. It just made him look scary. And sexy. Couldn’t forget sexy. His hair seemed to hold all the colors of the universe in each strand, and she had the