Famished, Meghan O'Flynn [free ebooks romance novels .txt] 📗
- Author: Meghan O'Flynn
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An unexpected encounter, but not concerning. Jake would be less apt to think it strange when they met again.
And they would.
His breath hissed steadily in and out, merging with the brisk, dry air, and the twigs that skittered across his path. A short distance from his shoes, the grass shimmered under the glow of the streetlight. He wore the shadows without concern for passersby; she lived on a street populated with people who went to bed early. Was it by chance, or by her conscious design? Probably the price. And the fact that there were fewer people to hear her boyfriend yelling at her like a Neanderthal.
And then there she was, a silhouette against warm lamplight, moving, almost dancing as she wiped the glass. She had stayed up late as if she knew he’d be there.
He inhaled the crisp scent of leaves and musty earth. Interesting how quickly he had found her once he began looking in earnest. It was equally intriguing that he wasn’t yet sure whether he would kill her, whether he would pull out her insides and watch her writhe like the others.
Usually, he knew a woman’s date of death from their first meeting. This time he felt the question throbbing between his ears, wrapping his mind in a conundrum.
“Hannah.” He let the name play on his tongue, tasting the syllables, savoring this single piece of her he now possessed. Hardness strained against his zipper. He watched closely as she spun from the window, clicked off the lamp, and disappeared into the blackness of her apartment. Satisfaction tingled around the edges of his brain.
The night birds squalled as the light in Hannah’s bedroom turned on. She did not pass the windows, no more bustling around trying to forget her useless boyfriend, not even a shadow as she dressed for sleep. Perhaps she was already in bed. The wind pulled at his jacket, the cold sharpening his focus on her window until the song of the night birds faded in his ears. He could almost hear her breathing. And still the light remained.
Hannah must not be sleeping well. He suspected it was because of him.
What a difference a weekend makes.
On my desk, a vase of tulips brightened my cubicle with a silent but sincere apology. Three were already wilted, but they did their job all the same, even if they had been bought with money from my purse. At least I hadn’t had to pay for the deliciously long back rub that had lulled me to sleep last night.
I should pick up something special for him on the way home. Maybe condoms.
I was the most romantic girlfriend ever.
Also, on my desk, three stacks of new hire packets fluttered in the dry heat from the vent. I blinked hard to wet my corneas, and an eyelash stabbed me in the eye. I tried to blow it off. It stuck. I brushed at it until the stubborn bastard came out, then finished entering the last of the new employee data from the second stack.
I took my completed work to the filing room and found Noelle already there, shoving personnel files into the cabinets with practiced precision. “Hey there, stranger! What’s been going on?”
“Same old, same old,” I said, trying to sound casual but feeling guilty as hell for not calling Noelle back this weekend.
She squinted at me. “You okay? What happened?”
“Jake was a little pissed about the whole clubbing thing, but we made up. No biggie.”
She wiggled a file into place. “I just don’t understand what you see in him. I keep thinking about what you told me when my dad died. All that stuff about it taking more than blood to build a relationship, so I wouldn’t feel bad for hating his ass. But all Jake ever gives you is grief, and you don’t even—”
“I really do love him.” My pulse quickened, and I swallowed hard. “He’s had a tough time finding work, so I think he’s stressed.” I just needed to talk to him more. Be more understanding. At the least, I could avoid intentionally doing things that I knew would make him upset.
Noelle touched my hand. “Hey, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean it. I’m just a little tired.”
My heart slowed at her backpedaling. But… Noelle, tired? There were no bags under her eyes, and the whites were clear, probably more clear than mine after my renegade lash incident. She looked…peaceful. Happy, even. “You’re tired? Why? Did you go over and mess around with Ralph? He looks like he could go all night long.” I tried to smile.
“I went out with Thomas last night.”
Jim’s creepy, weirdo eyes flashed across my consciousness and disappeared. “How did it go?”
“Dinner was good.” Her words caught almost imperceptibly like a leaf hitching on a breeze that doesn’t ultimately possess enough power to change its course. Noelle closed the drawer and bent to open the one below it, but kept her face buried in the files. “He’s an interesting guy. Really…different from any other guy I’ve met. He’s funny but not like he’s trying to be.”
“Did you…you know?”
Noelle closed the file drawer and straightened. “Nope. He came back to my apartment, but he didn’t even try to get in my pants.”
“Really? I mean, he likes women and everything, right?”
Noelle laughed at my joke, but not as hard as she had laughed at Thomas’s. “Yeah, he likes women. He’s just…nice. Cautious, you know? Respectful. Plus, he’s kind of a homebody. Would rather hang out in the woods or at home than be out partying.”
I took her place in front of the cabinet and opened a drawer. Noelle was happy with a homebody? She wasn’t determined to drag him out clubbing with her?
Or is it just me that she needs to take out? Am I not interesting enough on my own?
I stuck a couple folders into the drawer. “So, what did you do at your apartment?”
“Talked for a few hours. And ate ice cream.”
I closed the drawer. “Come on, Noelle. You have to do better than that. How else am I supposed to live vicariously through you? I need details!”
“If you feel like you need to live vicariously, then that just proves you’re missing something in your real life. Jake seriously needs to step up his game. Or you need to make better friends with your vibrator.”
Hannah laughed, but her eyes glazed over as if she were thinking something she didn’t want to say. Noelle’s stomach clenched.
Note to self: Don’t talk about Jake. Just the mention of that jack-off made Hannah’s mouth tighten up.
Noelle ground her teeth together to keep from screaming at her friend to kick his ass out. She knew Hannah wouldn’t, and she no longer cared why.
“Good enough,” Noelle said. Good enough if you don’t care about being happy.
She avoided Hannah’s eyes.
There has to be a way to get him away from her.
I took a bite of the roasted vegetables I had made for dinner. “I just can’t believe I got everything done today. I’m glad I was able to sneak out of there on time.”
“Well, I know you’re good at your job. You’re good at everything you do. I appreciate the way you always take care of me.”
His words softened a touch of the frostiness I had felt when I walked in and found beer bottles all over the kitchen counter and the garbage overflowing. But being angry at him wouldn’t push away this feeling I had that someone was after me, and it certainly wouldn’t help if I pushed him away and ended up alone. I
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