Page 23 of Bound by Vengeance
You’re so doomed!Not yet, shetold herself.
Nathan’s heart lurched when his eyes metVicky’s. With her face flushed and a smile lighting her emeraldeyes, she looked irresistible. Seeing her again eased the strangeconstriction growing in his chest since they’d parted. He stood andsavored her before his gaze fell to the clippings surrounding her.His eyebrows shot up.
“Don’t worry,” she said in response to theirritation and disbelief flashing across his face. “I’ll put themall back exactly the way you had them.”
“Really?” he asked as he looked at thehundreds of clippings and the numerous thumbtack holes in thewall.
Vicky laughed and shook her head. Hair fellfree of her loose ponytail to brush against her shoulders. “I’mmore than a pretty face and a rocking body.”
“I have no doubt,” he murmured, but herwords caused his eyes to dip to her full breasts. “But that is alot of articles.”
The ravenous gleam in his eyes caused herbreath to hitch.
“It is, but I’m a genius, or at least myphone is.” She held it up. “I took pictures.”
He smiled at her as he closed and locked thedoor. When he turned back to her, Vicky held his gaze for a secondbefore lowering her eyes and nervously licking her lips. Thearousal he’d rid himself of earlier, blazed back to life when hertongue ran over her luscious lips. He badly wanted to replace hertongue with his, or better yet, feel those lips running over thelength of his shaft.
And that easily, he was rock-hard again andpretty sure walking would be impossible.
Vicky rubbed her palm nervously on her thighbefore concentrating on the articles again. She recognized lust ona man when she saw it. If she looked at him, she’d forget all senseof reason, lay down on this floor, and let him take her.
Damn him for being as affected by her as shewas by him; it only made her want him more.
So you’d prefer it if he considered youas desirable as a toad?A voice in her head taunted.No.Yes. No. YES!
Ugh, he had her so wound up she’d lost allsense of reason.
“I… uh… I tried organizing the articles alldifferently and looking for similarities, as I’m sure you alreadyhave,” she said.
“I have,” he confirmed.
“Then, I decided to separate the missingfrom the dead—”
“I’ve done that.”
“I’m sure,” she said and chanced a glance athim. It relieved her to find him more focused on the articles thanher. “But did you ever search for the missing people?”
“You mean go out and try to find themmyself?”
“No, I mean Google.” She waved her phone infront of him. “Did you ever search to see if they were found?”
“No. I just assumed they were gone forgood.”
“So did I, at first,” she said and brushedaside an annoying strand of hair.
With a sigh, she undid her ponytail andpulled her hair back into another one. She froze when Nathan’s gazefastened on her neck. For a second, the hunger burning in his eyeswas that of a vampire ready to feast.
Demon DNA,she reminded herself.Still, she’d never expected to see such a look in the eyes of ahunter. As fast as it came, the hunger vanished, but sheknew she hadn’t imagined it. This hunter was more vampire than herealized. What that meant, she didn’t know, but it intriguedher.
“But then, I thought, wait a minute,” shecontinued. “Joseph has been smart enough to evade Ronan all thistime; strong and capable enough to take down your dad—sorry aboutthat.”
Sadness tugged at his heart at the reminderof his loss. Every day, he pondered whatheshould or couldhave done to prevent Joseph from killing his dad. His father wastougher on him than Kadence, but Nathan understood why. From birth,Nathan was groomed to one day become the leader.
Often, he wondered if he was failing in hisrole.
“It’s the past,” he murmured.
“I hate when someone says that. Just becauseit’s in the past doesn’t mean it stops hurting.”
