Up in a Blaze by Alice Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

was surprised to hear the anxiousness in his voice. Why would he care what she thought of his home?
    She turned and gave him a small smile. “It’s great. Thank you for letting me stay here.”
    He stared into her eyes for a moment, then slowly raised his hand until he could reach hers. He brought it to his lips, kissing the back of her hand, in an old-fashioned way she found endearing, if not a bit odd. Men just didn’t do things like that anymore.
    “No need to thank me. It is my pleasure to have you here, cariño .” His Hispanic accent was thick, his voice deep, and she found herself drowning in his dark eyes. They stood facing each other, eyes locked, her body suddenly unable to move, barely able to breathe. He continued to stare into her eyes, his lips barely brushing the back of her hand. Then just as fast as she had fallen into his trap, her nightmare came roaring into her mind, reminding her of why she was there to begin with.
    Donte watched her facial expressions carefully. He couldn’t believe how thick his accent was when he opened his mouth. He hadn’t let the accent surface in too many years to count, except for the occasional use of his Hispanic roots for work. Poor Nathaniel knew very little Spanish, and he was forever giving his friend a hard time about it.
    But as he watched her emotions skitter across her face, he saw the exact second her nightmare hit. Her breath hitched, her heart started pounding, and she jerked her hand away as if he had burned her. Since he had been watching from the recesses of her mind, he had a bit more understanding as to what was going on.
    She stood visibly shaken in the middle of the room, looking like a lost soul, not knowing which way to turn, which way to go. “Did I frighten you, little Cassie?”
    She closed her eyes as she desperately tried to dispel the images of the monster haunting her. “No, it wasn’t you. I was just quickly reminded of why I am here, and the danger that’s still lurking.” She turned to glance at the queen size bed. “I think I’ll take that rest now, if you don’t mind.”
    “Of course, Querido , make yourself comfortable. I’ll check on you a bit later.” Not knowing what else to do, and cursing the man who had stolen the moment the two of them were sharing, he turned and walked out the door.
    Donte waited a little while, giving her time to fall asleep. He walked into his pristine, but very bare kitchen. “Crap!” he muttered to himself as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket.
    “Damn, son, you having problems with your houseguest already? We haven’t even been gone an hour yet.”
    “Yeah, real funny, man, real funny. I have a few problems. First of all, she has no clothes, and I have no food in my kitchen,” Donte hissed out, trying to keep his voice down so as to not awaken his houseguest.
    “I know. We’re out shopping now and should be back at your house in about another two hours. Anything else?”
    “Yeah, it happened again. I’m pretty sure it’s some kind of a spell he has over her. Every time she starts to relax around me and let down her guard, he pops up in her mind, threatening her.”
    “I’m going to try to get her to talk about that tomorrow at the staff meeting. I think we are going to need the team’s involvement on this one.”
    “Hmm, not sure how that one is going to work out, man. She’s real skittish around people she doesn’t know, especially men. You might get more out of her by getting the ladies involved.”
    “Yeah, you’re probably right. Okay, we’ll see how things go when we get back there tomorrow morning, and wing it from there.” Donte pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it, not believing what he just heard.
    “Did I just hear you say we’re winging something? The man that always has a plan, a backup plan, and an ‘aw-shit’ plan for everything?” Donte asked in total disbelief.
    “Yeah, well, we’re talking about the female species here. They always make