Read Hunted Holiday: A Vampire Romance for Free Online

again and Dani shook her head. “No, boy. I’m not staying. I need to run home and grab something. Then I’ll come back.”  
    Cornell was suddenly before her, filling the space, moving Zeus aside and touching Dani’s chin. “I will accompany you.”
    So not going to help with the space bit.
    She bit her inner cheek, attempting to summon some willpower to resist the man.  
    Nope. She found nothing.
    “O-okay,” she managed, sounding more like a scared newbie than a seasoned slayer.
    Mimi’s laughter followed Dani as Cornell led her from the room and down the long corridor to his side door. When they were far enough from the others, she turned, finding something that may or may not have been courage. “What’s going on?”  
    He merely stared down at her, looking sexy and innocent.
    She snorted. “Right. You can’t stand there acting like this isn’t weird.”
    “Weird?” he mocked, speaking as she would, rather than his own more polished approach to conversation. “How so?”
    She grunted. “We kissed. And now we’re doing the ‘staring longingly’ bit. It’s freaking me out, Sutton.”
    Tipping his head back, he laughed, and the rich, deep sound seemed to center between her legs. She touched his arm and closed her eyes, willing her hormones to get their shit together. They, of course, ignored her. When Cornell stopped laughing, he put his hands to both sides of her head and backed her against the closed door, his body against hers.
    “Me wanting to be close to you is freaking you out ?”
    She blinked, her body in desire overload. “Uh-huh.”
    “Because I frighten you and you have no wish to be near me or—”
    “Not that, no!” Dani lowered her head, ashamed by her outburst. She practically screamed at the guy that she wanted him.
    “Then why, Dani?” he asked, his forehead touching the top of her head. “Why is it this makes you so uncomfortable?”
    She blew out a long breath. “Because normally you just yell at me a lot and make me work all the time.”
    “I yell because I worry for you,” he said. “I yell because I fear something will happen to you. I yell because I care too much.”
    He cared too much?
    What the heck did that mean?
    “Dani,” he said, a hand moving to her chin, forcing her gaze upward. “Each and every time you leave to go on patrol, I find it hard to breathe. I know you are more than capable, but that doesn’t stop me from worrying about you.”
    “You have a lot of enforcers under your supervision,” she said with a huff. “How do you get anything done if you worry nonstop about us all?”  
    “I only worry about you,” he confessed, stealing the very air from her lungs. “I’m in love with you. I have been since the moment I met you.”

Chapter Five
    Giant pain in the ass  

    There. He’d said it. He’d put his feelings out in the open and waited, fearing rejection. The seconds ticked by as Dani merely stared up at him, her eyes wide, her lips parted. Finally, Cornell could stand it no more. “Say something.”
    “Did you just vamp-magik me in the other room?”  
    Cornell eased back. That wasn’t the response he’d been hoping for. He inclined his head slightly, thinking it best he avoid outright acknowledging his bad behavior. He’d had to use a good deal of power to influence her and push his erotic desires at her. He wasn’t exactly proud of his behavior, but he’d settled on it being high time he acted on his feelings.  
    Dani put a hand on his hip. “How?”
    “It wasn’t easy,” he said, his voice low. “Your slayer blood gives you a great deal of resistance, not to mention, you’re stubborn.”
    “I should slap you.”  
    He nodded. She should.
    She stared harder at him. “Wait, what do you mean you love me? That’s stupid. You don’t love me.”
    He stood his ground. “I think I know what I feel better than you. And loving you isn’t stupid . Pretending I don’t is. And I’m done pretending, Danielle.”
    Moisture