The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters: Secret McQueen Story by Sierra Dean Read Free Book Online

the gloom of the darkened foyer. He shut the door, and I was alone in the dark with him. “It’ll be to die for.”

Chapter Six
    I had to remind myself that for the time being I was just a fan. And a fan, to Charlie, was a lamb being led to slaughter. He had one behemoth of a guard out disposing of a body, and another was waiting next to the elevator. I needed to know what else I was up against before I could spring into action.
    “Wow. It’s so dark in here.”
    “Is it? I hadn’t noticed.” All the better for the vampire to see you with, my dear.
    The guard ignored us as we waited for the interior elevator, and Charlie was already in full-on skeezy superstar mode. He had pressed himself against my side and was trailing his fingers up and down my arm. I couldn’t get over how cold he was. Vampires are not warm creatures by any stretch of the imagination, but they were rarely this icy. Their usual temperature, for lack of a better comparison, was that of a room-temperature corpse. Slightly cool, but by no means cold.
    Charlie was so cold goose bumps rose over my skin wherever he touched me. He seemed to take this as growing excitement on my part and leaned in closer to lick my earlobe. “What’s your name?” he enticed, his hands exploring the easily accessible parts of my body.
    I kept repeating in my head, not yet, not yet, not yet, kill him now, no, not yet, not yet, not yet. I tapped my fingers against my leg, growing progressively more impatient with the elevator. Once I knew how many more men he had, I could take care of business. I eyed the stony bodyguard who was only a few feet away, wondering where Charlie had found such huge men. Until I knew how many others there were like him, I had to be…
    “Jessica.” I picked the most common girl name I could think of. Something a little less memorable than Secret.
    “Pretty.” He probably hadn’t even heard me. His voice trailed away from my ear and down my neck. His creepy, cold hands bumped against the tube I was carrying. “What’s this?” The flirty overtones vanished. His voice was both curious and suspicious.
    “ Oh . I brought my poster from Blood Love 2 . I was sort of hoping you might sign it. You know. Later.” False modesty hung all over my words. “If that’s okay.”
    He laughed, and the sound was almost pleasant. “Sure, Jennifer. Anything you want.”
    “Jessica.”
    “Mmmhmm.” He was leaning back in for my throat, but the elevator opened.
    My neck had been saved by the bell twice in one night.
    I needed that luck to hold out a bit longer.
     
    Penthouse Three looked like every other expensive hotel room I’d ever seen. Sure, there were touches that made it fit the theme of the Columbia, like photo wallpaper depicting the shore of the British Columbia coast. All the colors were muted browns and grays, and the bedposts were made of the same driftwood as the lobby desk. But it was still a big, fancy version of an apartment, and the size felt like a mockery of my own living quarters. I sort of resented it.
    The most impressive thing about the room was the full wall of windows, which had a doorway out to a balcony spanning the whole length of the room. The windows must have had light-safe panels that expanded to cover them during the day. Dangerous for a vampire, sure, but the nighttime view was incredible.
    “Wow,” I said with genuine bedazzlement.
    “You like that?” He looked past me and out the window, as if it was the first time he’d noticed the view.
    “It’s amazing.” My gaze drifted from the window, and I cast a searching glance around the room, trying to see if we were alone.
    There was a vampire sitting on a couch in the living room, and he was pretending not to notice me, which seemed to be the primary job of Charlie’s men. The guard who’d come up on the elevator with us had vanished from sight, but I could still feel his presence lurking nearby. That made two in the room, and a third off running a gruesome