Skin by Patricia Rosemoor Read Free Book Online Page A

could? And that working girl who was murdered a few weeks back?”
    Shaking off the creepy feeling, Hannah muttered, “A coincidence is all.”
    “Don’t you believe it. We gotta take care of ourselves, child, ‘ cause no one else is gonna. So you be careful out there, hear?”
    Already waltzing out the doorway, Hannah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Dr. Caresse.”
    “I’m tellin’ you!” the other dancer called after her.
    There was nothing to worry about, Hannah thought as she flew out the stage door. She could take care of herself. Michael Wyndham was leaning against a light post on the other side of the alley, his gaze focused on her as she left the club.
    “My car or yours?” she asked, cutting across the alley toward him.
    “Let me lead you into temptation.” He held out his arm.
    From the corner of her eye, Hannah thought she caught a movement in the shadows, but when she turned and stared, nothing was amiss.
    Her imagination.
    She took Michael’s arm and let him lead her off.
    oOo
    SHAKING WITH FURY, Paul Ensdorf stepped out of the shadows and watched the vehicle speed away.
    How dare Anna cheat on him?
    He’d arrived at the club at the last minute, hoping to catch Anna, to tell her the good news that they could have the house to themselves tonight. A friend of Grandmother’s had taken a turn for the worse, and she was holding a vigil at the nursing home. It wasn’t often that he had unimpeded run of the house.
    He’d envisioned himself and Anna naked, playing sex games in every room of the house... maybe even taking their play downstairs where he would do her in a top-of-the-line coffin. This time he would finish it. This time he would be hard enough, long enough to enter her and satisfy her.
    He was hard now.
    Mewling with disappointment, he unzipped his trousers. How he ached for her. He began stroking himself. Imagining Anna sprawled on his bed, handcuffed, begging him to take her.
    “Hey, sweetheart, need some help with that?” asked a husky voice from behind him.
    “How much?”
    He never even looked at her, didn’t want to see what the whore looked like. In his mind, he envisioned long dark hair, dark eyes and an angelic face.
    “Well, you’re already started,” the husky voice said. “Cab fare would do. Make it a twenty and you’ve got a deal.”
    He gave her the money, and they moved closer to the brick building on the other side of the alley. She knelt before him and took him in her mouth.
    “Aah! Hot and wet, you’re so hot and wet for me, Anna.”
    She gave good head, sucking and pulling at him, raking him with her teeth, stroking him with the tips of her nails. Eyes closed, he tangled his fingers in her hair and imagined she was Anna. He could see her eyes widen as he pushed her into the wall and shoved himself in as deep as he could. In his mind, Anna’s face gradually transformed, becoming Melinda’s. His sister appeared dazed and grateful that she finally saw him for who he was. Unable to hold on any longer, he let go.
    Whimpering, he opened his eyes, saw the woman still attached to him and shoved her off. Wiping her mouth, she cowered against the wall as if she were afraid.
    A fact that made him smile in satisfaction as he walked away.
    oOo

 
Chapter 5
     
    LILITH HAD INHERITED her green thumb and affinity to nature from Mama. Her favorite haunts weren’t shopping malls or dance clubs but conservatories and zoos. Luckily Elena shared her interest, so she set out for the Botanic Gardens with her on Sunday afternoon. Her way of distracting herself. Otherwise she would sit at home, waiting for Hannah to call and be disappointed yet again. She couldn’t force Hannah to take her back into her life.
    They spent the morning having breakfast overlooking a waterfowl pond, followed by walks through the rose garden and across the Japanese islands. A good, if temporary, distraction for the thing really bothering her.
    On the train ride home, Lilith decided to tell Elena about finding