Don't Hex and Drive (Stay a Spell #2) - Juliette Cross Page 0,48

of my hem. He laced our fingers together, his broad palm against my smaller one.

Heart drumming like mad, I stared up at him, reveling in the sensuous feel of his thumb sweeping over my mouth. I wasn’t a liar, so I couldn’t tell him I didn’t want that, too.

Afraid to take that plunge, I simply stepped back until his hand dropped away, mourning that tactile loss. “Goodnight, Devraj.”

I shot up the steps and into the house before he could protest, closing the door on the man who twisted my insides into a nest of mangled knots. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help but lean back against the door and press my fingertips to my lips, relishing the trail of heat he left there.

If I was a risk-taker like Violet, free with my affections and wild at heart, I’d take Devraj up on his offer. To get to know each other better. But the truth kept nagging at me. He’s the kind of man I could easily lose my heart to. After this job, he’d be moving on to somewhere else or jet-setting back to Europe or somewhere exotic and beautiful. And I’d be mending my heart in my greenhouse.

No. Keeping my distance from Devraj Kumar was definitely the right decision, I assured myself as I walked upstairs, touching my lips one more time.

Chapter 12

~ISADORA~

“Asshole,” muttered Jules as she stared down at her phone at the breakfast table, her coffee steaming beside her.

I put the kettle on the stove, needing some caffeine this morning. I’d slept heavily last night after expending so much energy with Emma in the hospital. Still, I felt invigorated from using my magic to do such good for someone else. Don’t get me wrong. I loved my quiet healing spells with plants and the strays I helped at Angel Paws, but something about healing Emma had settled a new kind of contentment in my breast. Also, the interrogation afterward at The Green Light had exhausted me further. Not to mention the fact that I laid awake in my bed for quite some time, trying not to think of a pair of whiskey-warm brown eyes.

I’d relayed everything to Jules that we’d learned from Darren Webber before I went to bed, so I wondered if something new had popped up.

“What is it?” I asked, shuffling in my bare feet and pajamas to the table.

Jules jerked her head up, her brow pinched into a deep frown. Then she snorted a disgusted laugh. “Oh, not much. Just perusing Ruben’s ratings on iBite.”

“He sent you the invitation then.”

She was engrossed again, her head down. “Listen to this one. ‘Mr. Dubois is so generous with his hosts, taking time to be sure the experience is as pleasurable for the host as it is for him. I highly recommend him if you’re lucky enough to be selected. I’d do anything he asked.’ Then there’s a winky emoji. I mean, come ON! She’s practically begging to sleep with him.”

“Well, of course she is,” I snorted a laugh then met her steely gaze. Oops. “Have you seen Ruben, Jules? I’ll bet every single one of his blood hosts are trying to get into his pants.”

If looks could kill, her silver guillotine-eyes would’ve decapitated me. So I added something I knew to be true and would unruffle her feathers. Maybe. She was in quite the tizzy.

“But I know for a fact he doesn’t sleep with his blood hosts.”

“How do you know that?” Her guarded expression flicked from her phone screen to me as she flipped through it furiously.

“Tia told me that one of Ruben’s rules for The Green Light is that no vampires sleep with their hosts. Apparently, he says it’s dangerous.”

“How do you mean?” Now she’d set her phone completely down, focusing on me.

“Well, though I’ve never been bitten by a vampire, lore tells us that the bite itself can be addicting, right?” She nodded, then the kettle on the stove started to whistle. I hopped up to go and fix my tea. “Tia said that when you mix sex with the bloodsucking, it can be too heady a combo for humans. They become dangerously addicted to the vampire, and it’s resulted in seriously unhinged stalkers and stuff. She said he has a zero-tolerance policy about it at the club and only sanctions it for long-term couples who’ve signed written contracts with other rules and such. You should know this,” I couldn’t help accusing.

I spooned some of the loose tea leaves of my own making from the greenhouse,