Скачать книгу

fine,” I wheezed, unable to take sufficient breaths. “Except for the third-degree burns.”

      Nathan actually smiled at that. He didn’t seem in much of a hurry to move, and despite the fact that I couldn’t breathe, I didn’t really mind. Until I remembered Ziggy had an open head wound.

      “And I can’t breathe. Will you let me up?” I squeaked, shifting slightly beneath him. I realized too late what effect my wriggling might have on a half-naked man.

      He looked embarrassed and apologetic as he rolled off me, clutching his towel closed.

      While Nathan tended Ziggy, I sat up and gingerly inspected the burned patches on my arms and chest. The skin was blackened. When I ventured an experimental poke it flaked away, revealing tender new flesh beneath. “Why didn’t I burn up?”

      “Because I saved your ass with my mad blanket-throwing skills,” Ziggy answered.

      Nathan made a sound in the back of his throat. I couldn’t tell if he was annoyed at Ziggy’s comment or upset by the gash in his skull.

      “This is going to have to be stitched up,” he said with a sigh of resignation as he examined Ziggy’s wound.

      “I can do that,” I offered, but Nathan shook his head.

      “I don’t have the supplies on hand, and you don’t have enough control yet to be around this much blood.” He turned to Ziggy. “It’ll be safer if you go to the hospital. Do you mind?”

      “Better than hanging around here,” he said with a shrug. “It’s like swimming in a pool of sharks with a paper cut in here.”

      Nathan went to his room. He returned with pants on his body and a roll of cash in his hand. “Take this,” he ordered. “Go straight to the E.R.”

      Ziggy stuffed the money in his jacket. “Where else would I go? Denny’s?”

      “Knowing you, anything is possible. But I’m not kidding,” Nathan warned. “Stay off the street tonight. I want you in by curfew.”

      “No problem,” Ziggy said. “They’ll probably give me some wicked pain medication at the E.R.”

      Nathan watched him descend the stairs, then closed the door and turned to me. “Here we are again. Just you and me, alone together. Not completely dressed.”

      The comment was so playful and unexpected, I didn’t know what to say. I wrapped my arms around my chest to cover the burn holes in the T-shirt and tried to force a laugh. “I’m not having much luck with shirts lately.”

      “Well, I’d loan you another but I saw what you did to the last one.” His voice sounded weary, but he smiled, anyway. “Besides, I like the view.”

      I rolled my eyes. “If you’re going to be a smart-ass, I’ll just ignore you.”

      Nathan clearly dealt with stress through humor. As long as I had to deal with him, I hoped he had enough stress to cause an ulcer. He was much more pleasant when he was using his coping mechanisms.

      The fading sunlight that had peeked from the edges of the blanket over the window disappeared. If Dahlia’s brick had broken the window five minutes later, it would have already been night. I checked my scorched flesh again. It had nearly healed.

      “Why did that happen?” I asked, holding up my seared hand.

      “Because you’re a vampire. Haven’t you seen any movies?” Nathan asked.

      “I’m more of a werewolf fan, for your information.”

      He made a face. “You wouldn’t be if you ever met one.”

      “Werewolves are real?” I smiled in spite of myself. I’d always liked the idea of wild guys who were animals in bed. Not that I’d ever actually experienced said animalism for myself, but a girl can dream.

      Sighing deeply, Nathan stretched out his legs. “Why is it you women find them so damned attractive? Is removing ticks from a guy such a turn-on?”

      “I never said I was attracted to them. I just said I favored them to, well, humanoid leeches, for instance.” I spied Ziggy’s cigarettes that lay forgotten on the coffee table, and snuck one from the pack. “Anyway, why did it happen now? It’s been nearly two months since the attack, and I’ve been in the sun since then.”

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgEASABIAAD/4RjwRXhpZgAATU0AKgAAAAgABwESAAMAAAABAAEAAAEaAAUA AAABAAAAYgEbAAUAAAABAAAAagEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAExAAIAAAAcAAAAcgEyAAIAAAAUAAAAjodp AAQAAAABAAAApAAAANAACvyAAAAnEAAK/IAAACcQQWRvYmUgUGhvdG9zaG9wIENTMyBXaW5kb3dz ADIwMTA6MDE6MTQgMjA6NDc6MDcAAAAAA6ABAAMAAAABAAEAAKACAAQAAAABAAAB9KADAAQAAAAB AAADEQAAAAAAAAAGAQMAAwAAAAEABgAAARoABQAAAAEAAAEeARsABQAAAAEAAAEmASgAAwAAAAEA AgAAAgEABAAAAAEAAAEuAgIABAAAAAEAABe6AAAAAAAAAEgAAAABAAAASAAAAAH/2P/gABBKRklG AAECAABIAEgAAP/tAAxBZG9iZV9DTQAB/+4ADkFkb2JlAGSAAAAAAf/bAIQADAgICAkIDAkJDBEL CgsRFQ8MDA8VGBMTFRMTGBEMDAwMDAwRDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAENCwsN Dg0QDg4QFA4ODhQUDg4ODhQRDAwMDAwREQwMDAwMDBEMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwM DAwM/8AAEQgAoABmAwEiAAIRAQMRAf/dAAQAB//EAT8AAAEFAQEBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAMAAQIEBQYH CAkKCwEAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAQACAwQFBgcICQoLEAABBAEDAgQCBQcGCAUDDDMBAAIRAwQh EjEFQVFhEyJxgTIGFJGhsUIjJBVSwWIzNHKC0UMHJZJT8OHxY3M1FqKygyZEk1RkRcKjdDYX0lXi ZfKzhMPTdePzRieUpIW0lcTU5PSltcXV5fVWZnaGlqa2xtbm9jdHV2d3h5ent8fX5/cRAAICAQIE BAMEBQYHBwYFNQEAAhEDITESBEFRYXEiEwUygZEUobFCI8FS0fAzJGLhcoKSQ1MVY3M08SUGFqKy gwcmNcLSRJNUoxdkRVU2dGXi8rOEw9N14/NGlKSFtJXE1OT0pbXF1eX1VmZ2hpamtsbW5vYnN0dX Z3eHl6e3x//aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8A5d31dGUHZFVYIa6HN3Bs6bnPbu2t2s9u/wD4ytWG9Cvo2Guo NL3bGsDhJO19stdOz2sqWtvqvxbJwjbVuBJq2hzDFTvTb+f+ba36H+G/0ipDHx/We0Yd5b7Q1rSX Hd7nWOL2hzXV7fTWuDuaA/l/eRZXPSM/YZrlw09OWzpO7g7W7dv56G/pmUy70XQ0lr3seJc0tYHO 4rDn+/b9D+cVyhmFU/1RjZNZqg79xBbpucLIDfZ6am3GxX3PbZg3OpL97YBG1rRthrmD3t37N7ku I/y/9GQgp6D1B9dlpraRWHBsODgS0b3en6Zdv3x7ESrpWa1gsZEOA0aQNC1rt0P2/vbf3/0f/FrR pyMKoNbTgXtYTtYdxaJ0n6ftb/W3Kmyj9I19jCwuO4ueOfztE3ikd/5fipO7By6CaWQ121pBPYOE uZub/wB8/wBIszOrvF3paveSGMAJc5xOjGD851jlqW5YpDmVAAcyYGp8Vs/VXpLK7LOrZ3ufT7ms YNzmn910bv0z/wAyr6aZLJwRMigbt/o/RB0HpQ2AftPIA9W4t3itx/ej6bat36LH3/rOR/I9S2vg P8YuTV+02dPoeRZVWBkvtdNsu/SObpu2+tua97v+1L/0v9H+zen1f1v6/b0OsZ+S9juqPaWdLwoD mUT9PK2f4W/3f0l/6P8AwVX793nvQaBlZr78txuyLCXuseZc5zjue9zne7cs+UzIknqyxi0bek5P 2e22qpzmktDdOG/S3LNpY91zK/bO4CH8ST+f/JXrOBh12bS9o8/4Kx1H6pYOUBd6TC+CCS0HTzP0 kLCTEPJ0Nof0nIxqqHDNrDRf0txIcZc1rLap/nMbVtnqM/wPv/m0leuwM2vqVHR7qd9F25uNdpuY AHWWU7tuz03Na5n/AIIkjxJp/9DEYcisu2WPYHRO1xAJB3Nc5rf3fzdys4tedkXMqqtsc93A3kDa 3X3f8HoqGPa2ytr28mNwB1EiWuH5r63re+rWVj09Q25Dgw2MIpsdo0uBH6N/5rPU+j/XWsZemwLU YkL5X1d61XRdkst9etzfUvrY92/bG0ve2xrfWbtHv/kKhQ/qNjiW22GBLjuOgHdek5ORhYHTjmZ5 bWGglkH3PcRDaqv332fyVwrM8gQCGyNQ2FFjySkDY26oDKltoibHlxABduOo8PxR34+6glzi5okg uMmTpu1+CrsseSIg/gpX22UwHMD2n98gAebv6qdraJFF0no9OblOe0uuNWgFbR7HePrPd6Fb9v77 X+n9NdV1jq+F9XOkD6FYqENYPdNx9zQzed1z6/p/pP8Awxf/AMJS6VcyrEOflPeyisE0tc0NkH2+ rXQz2fpXe3G9v/CLzz69dbyOodS+zvb6TKBpUTJYD/g3fyv9IqXM5CZcKccdLc3Ozsjq2a7qGY82 23PIJcZho+ixv8hq1ei1PZkl4b7RrPisI+lTi0C1pO5u8AGJkyrOFdbfe2jpFd9GU4FzK2ONgftB fYfTcPzaw9/9RV2QGn0zCe0NELaxcxhA3dtAuC+pfWM3qmd+zcgB1rmb67BoHDhWvrR1nqXSXinH mtzg5xs9M2Q1uj3tn9H7f5SS40Xtn41Lr2XFstaSW+RIISXnlf1qeOiW2u6tmDMLQ+vdUwNMPaxw r/wT2/mO/SpIrfq//9Hgem5WXS6rY+WMdZX6Z42jbZt3f1nucxbld4tcNpBJ1APER3XPdNcz1GNI Mb7DI7S1it9KvdY4bpcTG6ND/W/tx7/5av4pUAO/7BFlA0d/03OAeBBA9s6/5qJW2xsFyfGcX17G sIgnUcESiljt0uMgKe1pDbptgDdr4q41oy7qwzUz9GNw08ePa1

Скачать книгу