Where Demons Fear to Tread by Stephanie Chong Read Free Book Online Page B

him; he was used to the noise and chaos of nightclubs. The only thing that broke the silence was the sound of trickling water, surely designed to create a peaceful ambiance. It grated on Julian’s nerves like Chinese water torture.
    Serena, too, was the exact opposite of him. Maybe that was why he found her so incredibly attractive. There was something utterly compelling about the love/hate dynamic that he’d never been able to resist. He wandered down a quiet hallway, peering into empty rooms in search of her. In a large, sunny room at the end, he found her with Nick.
    Balancing in a handstand on the hardwood floor, the line of her body was perfect. She was some sensualist god’s idea of a celestial being. An homage to the human form, wrought by a divine hand and sent to torture him by deific forces. He prided himself on being a master of temptation, but somehow, with her, his finesse had abandoned him. No clever flattery came to mind, only animalistic instinct. He’d wanted her so badly last night that he’d botched a seduction that had practically been handed to him on a plate.
    He didn’t trust himself to do any better now, in the light of day. Well, he was going to have to try.
    When he spoke two words of a greeting, she fell. He watched her tumble as if in slow motion, landing catlike on her feet and glaring at him with those unforgettable eyes of hers.
    “What are you doing here?” she demanded, rising to her feet instantaneously.
    “I came to pick up Nick. I had no idea you were his yoga teacher,” Julian lied smoothly. The lie was thinner than the yoga top that stretched over her luscious curves, but it gave him such satisfaction to see her eyes narrow with annoyance.
    Beside her, Nick popped to his feet. “Good to see you.”
    “He’s not finished yet,” she said, unwilling to retract her claws from the clueless human.
    He’s mine, Julian thought as he smiled down at her. You invaded my territory last night, and now it’s pay-back time.
    Stubborn, she dug in deeper. “He needs to rest before he leaves. Nick, please take sivasana for fifteen minutes.”
    Sivasana. A bullshit name for lying on the floor, Julian almost said aloud. But he refrained. It wouldn’t do to pick a fight in front of Nick. Not yet. Nick lay down complacently and the angel fussed around the room, covering him with a blanket in a gesture that was so very caring.
    “Namaste,” she said, in a tone of voice one might use to say good-night to a small child.
    “Namaste,” Nick murmured back.
    How sweet. Julian wanted to vomit.
    What disturbed him even more was that it looked like yoga was working for Nick. Here in the studio, the actor looked younger and happier than he had last night, the hard set of his drug-frenzied face smoothed away in his post-yoga sprawl. If he was this relaxed after a bender of a night—Julian had seen him finally crumple into a cab at around five o’clock in the morning—what would yoga do for him on a regular basis? Julian didn’t like it one bit. Yoga went against everything he believed in. He’d always written it off as an exercise craze, targeted primarily to weak-minded women who fell for Eastern spirituality imported as a commodity and turned into a trendy sport.
    But now more than ever, it seemed imperative he destroy Serena immediately.
    He would find a chink in that virtuous armor of hers. He would work his way in and set about seducing her, taking her down with her own desire. In Julian’s vast experience, a little corruption went a long way. She was so tightly wound, it wouldn’t take much. All he would have to do was give her a little push. She would fall the rest of the way herself.
    She sat down in a lotus position, watching over Nick as he lay on the floor. Julian waited. He would wait all day if he had to. Within minutes, the young actor was snoring loudly. He’d fallen asleep in a patch of sunlight slanting in through the large windows.
    She got up, motioned for Julian to