Read Damen (The Marquette Family Book Two) for Free Online Page B

bodyguard.”
    “Bodyguard?”
    “Yeah, I’ll call him over and introduce him.”
    “No!”
    “Heaven, Guy won’t ever hurt you. If I tell him to, he’ll protect you, just like he does me.”
    “Why would you do that?” She shook her head, looking at the man. He still scared her, but she was glad he wasn’t some crazy stalker. Rough men, mean ones, got to her, and she steered clear of them. All she wanted now was peace and safety. “I’m fine, Damen. Thanks. Please, just go back.”
    She broke away from him and walked on. A part of her wanted him to keep pushing, but she breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t. After another block, she glanced back to find Damen and the Guy nowhere in sight. A sense of loneliness came over her, but she hurried along to get home in time to shower and change before she had to pick up Gideon. For the rest of the night and the next morning while at her regular job, Heaven wondered did Damen mean what she thought he did? Did he truly recall her from so long ago?
     
    * * * *
     
    Twelve years ago.
     
    “‘If you ever looked at me once with what I know is in you, I would be your slave.’ Do you know what it means?”
    Heaven glanced up from the book she held into the most amazing eyes she had ever seen. She couldn’t help her gaze wandering over the man, so tall and sexy, if very nerdy with glasses too big and hair cut like he’d just stepped out of the military. When she lingered on the glasses, she bit off a laugh because he snatched them from his face. The poor white boy blushed to the roots of his hair. He’d been leaning against the stacks, trying to strike a cool pose, but it came off as awkward. Her heartbeat kicked up right away.
    “Yes, I love Emily Brontë. She’s my favorite novelist and poet. You like her too, huh?”
    He ran a hand over his hair and shifted from foot to foot. “No, I mean do you know what it means because my instructor is chewing my ass out on this stuff. I hate it.”
    She gasped. “That’s sacrilege, buddy, and seriously the meaning of that passage is elementary.”
    His face flamed, but he said with boldness, “If I don’t pass English, I can’t get to my field, and I might have to quit school. I might become a bum begging in the streets, hungry and cold.”
    She put a hand on her hip. “Are you being funny or dramatic?”
    “Both. Do you feel sorry for me?”
    “Maybe.”
    Damen held up a slip of paper, and she leaned closer to decipher the sloppy writing. Her name appeared and where she could be found—haunting the library.
    “Why do you have my name?”
    “Well, I was hoping it wasn’t my friend’s idea of a joke as to the woman who could help me with English Lit.”
    “I’m not a tutor.”
    “But you get Emily. Heaven, help me.”
    She laughed, and so did he. The librarian cast them a warning glance, and Heaven grabbed Damen’s hand to lead him around several stacks. When they stopped, she faced him.
    “I know Emily, but I don’t know you.”
    “Damen Marquette, and if you have any problems with any other subject, I can help you.”
    She blinked at him. “Any subject?”
    He shrugged. “Any one. I can memorize whatever I need to know. I can comprehend complex formulas and procedures. Historical dates stick in my head like glue. Emotional touchy feely stuff is my kryptonite. I don’t get it. I don’t want to get it. So, you help me with Emily, I help you with everything else, and I guarantee to get you an A.”
    Heaven rolled her eyes. “You think you’re all that, huh?”
    “I’m a genius.”
    “Literally?”
    “Literally.”
    “Wow, okay, get me my good grades, Damen, and I’ll explain Emily, Chaucer, and any other poets all day and night.”
    He tugged a lock of her hair, his eyes glazed as if he were mesmerized. “I’ll give you whatever you want, Heaven.”
    Her senses went into a tailspin until he dropped to the floor, groaning and muttering “lame, lame, lame!” Heaven stared down at him and noted