Netherworld: Drop Dead Sexy(33)

No life.

Had my existence been so empty? I’d seen to it my family disowned me, freeing myself forever from their control. I’d had regular clients who were smart, made good conversation, and sated carnal desires to various degrees of satisfaction. But no close friends. No real boyfriend, not since the debacle of my college romance. No girlfriends to meet for lunch and gossip. I’d kept everyone at arm’s length, determined to forge my own path and unwilling to trust others to let me do so.

Looking at the apartment I’d called home for five years, I felt my aloneness as I never had before. An outsider might believe it had been occupied by an empty shell, an automaton with no soul. I’d left no one behind to mourn me. I might as well have never existed as far as the living world was concerned.

Tears prickled my eyes, and I rubbed them away resolutely. I’d screwed up, and there were no do-overs. All I could do at this point was pick up the pieces and start fresh. Maybe do better with afterlife than I had with life.





I took a deep breath. “Okay, no thinking of anything but the library this time. Library, library, library.” I fixed the main room of the Fulton Falls library in my mind, smelled the smoky mustiness, felt the hardness of the table beneath my naked body where Dan and Tristan had taken me so delightfully.

The ground beneath me shifted as I left behind the life I hadn’t lived.

* * * *

I made it to the library, but my victory was short lived when I realized I’d arrived lying naked on the table. Just as I’d imagined it.

Dan looked up from the book checkout desk where he sat perusing newspapers and a couple of open books. His eyes widened to see me in my altogetherness, and then an appreciative smile lit his rugged features.

I took a quick look around to make sure no one else roamed around to see my humiliating arrival. Dan and I were alone if you didn’t count Miss Gertrude, blessedly forever enthralled with her book.

I huffed with aggravation. “How long does it take before I don’t suck at this teleporting crap?”

Dan stood and approached, his tented slacks leading the way. I hurriedly drew the kimono on I’d worn earlier.

“Oh please don’t put on clothes on my account,” he grinned.

“It’s hardly fair when you remain dressed.” Still huffy with embarrassment, I slid off the table and promptly fell to the floor when I misjudged my landing. “Darn it!” I yelled.

“Let me help you up,” Dan offered.

I looked up at him towering over me. Suddenly a memory jumped to the front of my mind.

He stood over me, this dark, cold thing. The gurgling screams had stopped, and I knew what that meant, but I couldn’t consider it now, not when it was my turn.

I shrieked, cowering from the huge apparition. Dan suddenly knelt in front of me, his arms gathering me close to him, sheltering me with his sturdy body. “What’s wrong, baby girl?”

“I remember–” I gasped, looking around, seeing the library again. Most of all, not seeing the presence of Death looming overhead. Relief made me sag against the broad chest Dan offered.

“What do you remember?” With my ear against his chest, Dan’s voice came out all rumbly. Okay, kick me for being a weak-butt girl, but I was grateful to have a big, strong man to protect me in that instant. His broad muscular frame became a fortress to hide inside, giving me the strength to talk.

“Something walking up and standing over me. I saw him hurt someone else and then he came for me. I knew I was gonna die, Dan. Oh dear God.” I shuddered and remembered thinking please let it be quick, please don’t let it hurt.





Dan held me with firm gentleness, kissing the top of my head as if soothing a frightened child. “Did you see his face?”

“I think so, but when I try to remember — it’s a blank. I just remember a terrible presence.” I’d gone earthquake, shaking so hard with reaction that Dan had to tighten his arms around me.

“It’s okay. It’s all over now.” His mouth managed to capture mine, and he kissed me with the hard assurance of a man determined to fix everything. He laid me on the thick rug on the floor, his body sheltering me, his lips and tongue leeching the fear until it ebbed away to be replaced by demanding arousal.

I broke his kiss with a gasp. “Okay, I’m an absolute freak to be getting hot after remembering what I do.”

Dan stroked errant strands of hair from my face. “Even among the dead, lovemaking is life-affirming.”

Yes, sex would definitely help take my mind off that hideous memory. I grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled his lips to mine once more.

Our clothes disappeared in an instant, and I moaned to feel him hard and ready against my mound. His tongue swept into my mouth in a heady tasting of me, and I lost myself to sensation. He was demanding yet tender, and the juxtaposition made me wet for him. I locked my legs around his in invitation.