Nightlord Lover by Kathy Kulig Read Free Book Online

room, Ramon stood in front of the balcony door
with his arms stretched out and his head bowed. “What’s he doing?” Larissa
whispered.
    “A little persuasion to make sure the door remains secure,”
Garrick said.
    Ramon dropped his arms and turned around. “Finished for now
until I can get materials for the balcony.”
    Having both men in her apartment brought incendiary memories
back from her vivid dreams last night. Her attraction to both men puzzled her.
This had never happened to her before. Both men made her hot. To pursue or
flirt with Garrick was risky even though she sensed his attraction to her. How
awkward would it be if they did get into a relationship and it ended badly?
They still had to be business associates. And Ramon. If she pursued him, how
would Garrick feel and would she be thinking about Garrick when with Ramon? She
never had such complicated feelings before. At the moment, nothing was
happening, so why should she worry?
    “I have plenty for dinner if you two want to stay.” Larissa
figured she’d let fate make the decision for her.
    “We’d love to, another time perhaps,” Garrick said. “We have
a town meeting to go to.”
    “You’re on the city council?”
    “Something like that. It has to do with the town,” Ramon
offered.
    “We’ll check in on you,” Garrick said as he and Ramon walked
downstairs and left the store.
    Check in on her when?
    * * * * *
    Larissa placed the chicken Caesar salads and warmed fresh
bread she bought at the store out for Jordan and her on the dinette table.
    “TV is all set up and connected to cable,” Jordan said,
placing the hand tools back into Ramon’s toolbox.
    “You have to let me know what I owe you for the TV,” Larissa
said. “I don’t feel right about this. However you’re working it out with your
friends.”
    Jordan took a bite of her salad. “Don’t worry. People owe me
favors.”
    Picking up the bottle of wine, Larissa filled their glasses.
“What kind of favors?”
    She shrugged it off.
    Larissa decided to let it go for now. It wasn’t her
intention to interrogate her new employee and friend. “After dinner I have
fresh berries and homemade whipped cream for dessert.”
    “Yum. Thank you.” Jordan finished her salad and took a few
sips of wine. “You need a Christmas tree in here too.”
    “Stop,” Larissa said, laughing. “No more surprises.”
    When they finished dinner, Larissa and Jordan cleared the
table and Jordan brought their wineglasses into the living room while Larissa
fixed dessert.
    Seated in a worn Victorian chair, Larissa finished half her dessert
then filled her wineglass and Jordan’s. “Can you tell me about the odd things
going on around here?” The wine had worked its way through her tense muscles.
Maybe Jordan felt relaxed enough to share what the hell was up with this town.
    “Like what?” Jordan used her fingers to lick the last of the
whipped cream.
    Larissa decided to get to the point. “What’s a crimson slave?
Is Ramon a witch or psychic? Is Garrick? When I was mugged along the towpath
earlier he very conveniently showed up in time.”
    “You were mugged?” Jordan exclaimed.
    “I wasn’t hurt and he didn’t take my purse. I never saw
where he came from. He said he’d make me his crimson slave. Does that mean
anything to you?”
    Jordan stared into her wineglass and shrugged.
    “The odd thing is, I hardly remember much more of what
happened.”
    Jordan shot a glance at the oil painting of the Beaumont
house with the man standing in front. “He said crimson slave, not crimson swan?”
    “What’s that? And who’s Kashia? Don’t you think I’ll find
out sooner or later?”
    Jordan nodded, glancing at the painting again. “I don’t have
permission to tell you. I can tell you that Garrick and Ramon have your best
interests in mind. They’ll protect you if you listen to them and obey them.”
    “Obey? I don’t obey any man.”
    “If you want to survive in this town you will.”