Passions Recalled: Forbidden Passions, Book 2 by Loribelle Hunt Read Free Book Online Page A

She’d accepted his rejection a long time ago and the new rejection, the new anger over something she should expect, fucked with her mind as well as the peace she’d carved out for herself.
    To hell with this.
    Curling her fingers into fists, she redressed quickly, took a final look around the room and walked out. He was off running in his other form, so it was the perfect time to get out of here. Listening to the howling wind and driving rain, she walked down the hall—he’d left the front door open—and onto the porch where she winced, her stomach clutching in dread. Wind blew the trees flat, and the relentless rain collected in pools around the yard. There was no way she was driving in that, and she couldn’t believe he’d gone out in it.
    Fear for him was bad enough, but this new emotion was more like terror—at the realization she wasn’t going anywhere. She’d have to stay until this storm blew over and if she couldn’t avoid him, she was afraid she’d fall in love with him all over again. Snorting, she walked back inside.
    Like I ever really stopped?
    She had to figure out why she was here. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the memory to come. Nothing did.
    Pushing the door mostly closed, but not catching the latch in case Jason returned in wereleopard form, she walked back into the small living room. The wind blew the door open behind her, and it banged into the wall. She flinched and whirled around. Why was she so jumpy—because of the storm or something else? She walked over and slammed the door shut. He could just shift and use the knob like normal people when he returned.
    Standing in the small living room, she sighed. Now what? She needed a phone, needed to call her mom and see what she knew. Frowning, she looked around. Where was her purse? Her phone? Where was Jason’s phone for that matter? She hadn’t seen one yet. She peered through the doorway on her left and saw a refrigerator, but when she entered and found a phone it was dead. She slammed it down in frustration and went to search the house. There had to be a cell phone. Maybe it would work.
    She started with the nightstand in his bedroom and got the shock of her life when she pulled the drawer open. It couldn’t be the same box, but she knew as she reached for it with trembling hands that it was. Lifting it out, she set it on one open palm and frowned. Her chest expanded, shrank and swelled again. It took a moment for the sobs to register, and she gulped them down. He hadn’t kept the ring, had he? The ring she’d left with him when she’d flown home to explain things to her family. It was like watching a train wreck, her train wreck, as she flipped the lid open, saw the blazing red ruby circled by diamonds. She bit her lip and pulled the ring from the box. She held it a moment before sliding it on and holding it up to the light. He’d kept her ring. What did that mean? What else had he kept?
    She set the box on the bed and stood. Hands on her hips, she looked around, wondering where to start. Afraid she’d find something else as disturbing in the dresser, she headed for the closet and opened the doors. She quickly flipped through everything in front and pushed them out of the way when she came to the items hidden in the back—the clothes she’d left in his quarters at the resort. Had he kept everything? She shrugged off the curiosity. Did it matter?
    At least she could get out of this bikini now. She tugged a tank top and then a pair of jeans off hangars and carried them into the bathroom. Setting them on top of the closed toilet, she pulled the shower curtain back wondering if her shampoo and conditioner would be there, too. Thankfully, they weren’t. That just would be too creepy.
    Turning the water as hot as it would go, she got in and soaped up, careful to avoid the bandage on her temple. With the electricity out she figured she didn’t have a long time before the water turned cold and hurried through the process. She