MARKED (Hunter Awakened) by Rascal Hearts Read Free Book Online

I hadn't managed
to completely make myself cool and calm, but I'd at least been able
to harness my acting skills and make myself appear to be composed.
One look at those green eyes, however, and my heart was flipping in
my chest. I nearly tripped over my own feet as I walked towards him
and my face flamed red. Nothing on Elias's face indicated that he'd
seen what had happened or that he noticed my flush, but that didn't
make me feel any less embarrassed.
    “Mr. Stevens collected my signature.” His
voice was low, almost sensual, though the words were anything but.
“Is anything else needed before we depart?”
    I shook my head, not trusting myself to
speak. I kept silent during the ride to the set, staring out the
window in an attempt to appear aloof. I usually tried very hard to
be friendly to my employees, but I didn't trust myself with this
one. Based on the number of times I stole glances at him on the
ride, my concern was justified. To my chagrin, the last time, Elias
caught me. I kept my eyes on the scenery after that. It was going
to be a long night.
    Work sucked. I mean, really. It took me
longer than usual to get into character, and I flubbed more lines
in that first scene than I had in the entire previous episode.
Everyone was very understanding, not even showing the slightest
annoyance. All of them were so sweet and nice—well, everyone except
Summer Cooper, but she was pretty much a bitch all of the time—and
they all told me how bad they felt about what had happened to me. I
appreciated their compassion, but I also felt undeniably guilty
because I knew that only part of my problem was the events from two
nights ago. No matter where I was on set, I could feel Elias's eyes
on me.
    Throughout the night, Elias was one hundred
percent professional, keeping the background and staying out of the
way. It was almost eerie how still and silent he could be. I got
the sense that he was aware of everything happening around us, that
he never focused on only one specific thing. It made me wonder what
it would be like to have that intensity all directed at one thing,
all directed at me. The thought was almost enough to distract me
again.
    Almost.
    Despite my strange ability to sense Elias's
presence, I managed to focus on the next scene, and things got
easier. By the time the director was ready to wrap, I was back in
my old rhythm. Now, if only I could keep it through the next two
days, we'd be all good to wrap for Thanksgiving. Not that I was
doing anything for the holiday, but I knew that my friends had
plans and I didn't want to ruin anything for them.
    I was still thinking about the upcoming
holidays as Elias drove me home. My parents had always thrown huge
parties for Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I'd been a kid, I'd
loved the parties. We'd always have a massive Thanksgiving feast
that ended with everyone helping decorate the huge mansion I'd
apparently bought when I was a toddler. There were lights and
garlands and ribbons.
    The tree went in the entry hall, towering
fifteen feet high so that when the interior decorator came the next
day to redo the decorations professionally, she'd made the servants
climb on stepladders. Okay, that sounded a bit pretentious. We'd
had a maid, a butler and a gardener. Everyone else had been
part-time. Yeah, that was still a little pretentious.
    It hadn't been until I'd been eleven or
twelve that I'd realized that my parents wanted everyone over to
show off what we'd had and not because they actually liked most of
them. I'd tried to keep loving the parties after that, but it'd
been hard. The magic had been gone.
    After I'd been emancipated, I'd known not to
bother asking my parents about the holidays. They'd made it pretty
clear how they'd felt about me the moment the judge had ruled.
Fortunately, it hadn't been long after that I'd found Harrison and
he'd invited me to spend Christmas Day with his family. He was out
of town every Thanksgiving, spending it in Texas with his