Underworld Lover (A Guardian Angel Romance #2) by haron Hamilton Read Free Book Online

own personal bottle of sexual wine, part of his collection. He had turned her himself for his own pleasure.
    The soft sensual look Josh gave her was not returned. Her eyes briefly smiled, but her lips were efficient. Josh thought they were still damn sexy. But Sarah was working hard to play some scripted part, and she had an audience who could judge her. She looked up at the video camera installed in the ceiling to her right and smiled into it. Josh didn’t have to look at it to know who was on the other side of that camera, watching him squirm.

    Josh was ushered upstairs to the Director’s third floor office. One of the doors was ajar, and the boys motioned for him to enter the double doors to the private office. He squeezed his hands into fists at his sides and tried to relax. The bad feeling remained.
    “Wait for me, okay? We’ll catch up on all the gossip.” Josh looked at the ragged bunch and attempted a smile. There was no enthusiastic response like he used to get.
    “No. We’re off for now. You take care now, okay?” The redhead put his hand on Josh’s shoulder and squeezed. Josh saw a look of concern in his eyes. Those men didn’t want to hang around the office for some reason.
    “Joshua, is that you?” a deep voice barked. “Come on in, I don’t bite, you know. It’s about time.”
    Shit. Here goes.
    Josh walked in through the doorway, then stared at Peter, the new Director of the Underworld, seated behind the desk, black legendary snakeskin boots up on the smooth black desk surface, hands laced behind his head, elbows extended out to the sides like wings. He was chewing on a large black cigar. The room was beginning to fill with smoke.
    Josh rubbed his nose, irritated at the stench. If he didn’t know better, he would think the director was smoking cow patties.
    Peter blew a puff of dark gray smoke at the ceiling. He bit the cigar between his teeth and said out of the corner of his mouth, “So, how the hell are you?” He didn’t stand up or offer to shake Josh’s hand.
    Josh felt he was being played. He was quite sure Peter hated him with every fiber of his being. “I’m just fine Peter—sir. Want to tell me what all this is about?”
    “The boys didn’t tell you?” Peter feigned shock. He removed the cigar from his mouth, sat up straight, and removed his boots from the desk.
    “Come on, sir. You know they didn’t. Why not just get to it, shall we? You could have just called me.”
    The smile that was on Peter’s lips was suddenly extinguished. “Sit.” He pointed to the lone folding metal chair in front of his desk. Josh obliged. The chair let out a loud squeak. He sat erect, and felt like a child at a piano recital.
    “You want a cigar, Josh?” Peter handed a box across the desk.
    “No thanks. I don’t smoke.”
    “Of course.” Peter stood up and walked to the window that overlooked the red glow of the Underworld’s dying sun. “Josh, I am aware of the fact that you have been around a lot longer than I have.”
    “Only about three hundred years.”
    “Yes. Point well taken. Undisputed fact. And I know you have had a say in almost everything that’s gone on here, when you wanted to.”
    Josh noted Peter was enjoying stringing things out.
    “So, Josh, I acknowledge your participation and how hard you’ve worked, and how you’ve dedicated yourself to the betterment of your fellow dark angels here in the Underworld.”
    “I never looked at it that way, sir. I did it for my own selfish needs. You know I never really ran things here. I was never a director, like you.” Josh knew Peter couldn’t argue with that.
    “Yes, well, we all do what we can, don’t we?” Peter’s gaze bored right into Josh’s, filling him with an unfamiliar dull ache and coldness. “I’m making some changes, and I would like your help.”
    “Of course you can count on me.” Josh knew the other shoe had not yet dropped. “What is it exactly you would like me to do?”
    This made the director