Read Fated: Karma Series, Book Three for Free Online Page A

perfected during my days as an attorney.
    “Let’s not split hairs.” He patted my hand, the one that was closest to him.
    The look had worked wonders on clients. Not so effective on beings of the Universe.
    I grabbed a bunch of bananas and placed them in my cart and then skirted around some women arguing in the aisle, who looked like they were going to break out into a brawl at any moment. It sounded like someone had taken the tomatoes the other considered theirs. It wasn’t just the teens; people from every age group, every socioeconomic level—basically everyone—was acting strangely.
    “Why do I want to meet these people? I’m not looking to expand my current circle of acquaintances at the moment, considering the limited pool I’ve been delegated to choose from. I’m sure they’ll understand.” I’d met enough nonhumans for an eternity, and if the world didn’t go to shit soon, that’s how long I might live.
    Eternity. That was a really long time. How many birthdays could you have before they didn’t matter anymore? After a couple hundred, would I even keep count? Was there even a point to counting if it wasn’t to calculate the years to old age? A futile exercise to help guess how many years were left using an equation that proved wrong so often.
    Paddy grabbed a chocolate bar as we turned down the baking and candy aisle. How good would chocolate taste after I ate it a thousand more times?
    The wrapping on the candy bar crinkled as Paddy opened it. “Consider it a favor to me?” he asked before he took a bite.
    I watched the joy of a sugar rush spread across his features. Okay, I’d still have chocolate. Coffee never seemed to lose its appeal. How bad could it be?
    “No.” I used to have a problem rejecting favors outright, always squirming to find a plausible excuse. But that was before I’d stomped my manners into the ground and kicked some dirt over them. I only dug them up and rinsed them off for special occasions now.
    “No,” a deep male voice seconded.
    Paddy disappeared the second Fate’s voice hit the airwaves. Well, that was rude. Even my buried and dirtied manners were rolling over in their grave, aghast.
    I turned at the sound of Fate’s voice right behind me. “What are you doing here?” I asked even though I knew he’d been keeping tabs on me lately, or worse, sticking the Jinxes on me. He was definitely the lesser of the two evils. The Jinxes tended to get bored with guard duty, even if it was supposed to be covert. At least they flattened the car’s tires beside where the Honda was parked, or turned on their lights. Unfortunately, I tended to feel responsible. After the third time, I put jumper cables and a pump in my trunk.
    “I had some shopping to do.” He shrugged as if it were a perfectly good excuse as he stood there without a single item and his hands in his pockets.
    “You don’t do your own shopping, or not most of it,” I said, still thinking of the perfume. I believed that he didn’t have something going on with Mother but not from lack of interest on her part.
    But as far as shopping went, it was probably a good thing he didn’t do most of his. With the level of testosterone he pumped into an area, he was going to give the ladies more than tomatoes to fight over. Even now, I could hear carts turning down our aisle. We were in the process of picking up a caravan and he hadn’t even been here long.
    Women were so silly, some nice built biceps and broad shoulders, face to die for and they got all… And now he was smirking, so I needed to stop looking at him.
    “I do my own shopping as of today. My shopper is missing.” He moved closer, his side brushing mine as we stepped forward. “Want me to push your cart?”
    How had he made that sound like sex? And what had happened? When had sexual innuendos become a total free for all with us? What switch had been tripped without me knowing?
    I stopped pushing the cart, blocking him when he would’ve taken the