Read Midnight for Free Online Page B

wriggling.
    That part had felt impressive, even through layers of
fabric.
    She raised her hands to pound on the door again, but they
hit nothing. The door was open, and she was pounding the air. She looked up,
right into Marco’s dark eyes. Eyes that looked sleepy, glazed, and more than a
little bit annoyed.
    “ Oh, shit .” She backed up an involuntary step.
    He pushed his way into the room and set a tray down on the
bedside table. “Did I happen to mention that I’m a bear when I haven’t had
enough sleep?”
    She winced inwardly at his growling tone. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Next time I’ll just starve until you feel up to feeding me. I guess I’m
not very well-versed in kidnap victim’s etiquette.”
    He narrowed his eyes. “There’s some food. I’m going back to
bed.”
    A sudden panic hit her at the thought of him walking out and
locking the door behind him. “Wait!”
    He turned, his arms crossed over his chest. “What?”
    She had no idea what she wanted to say to him, but as
strange as it sounded, she didn’t want to be alone. She had so many questions
to ask him. Hey, if he expected her to learn more about vampires, she had to do
her research, didn’t she?
    “Don’t you need to eat?”
    He gestured to the tray of food. “I don’t need to eat that.”
    “But can you?”
    He shrugged. “If I had any desire to, but after a few
hundred years it all starts to taste the same.”
    A few hundred? Oh, boy . “Um, do you always sleep all
day?”
    He nodded. “I do when I don’t have someone here trying to
break down doors and crack my eardrums.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Deal with it. I know you can go out in
the sun, since you came to my house in the middle of the afternoon. Why do you
sleep during the day if the sunlight doesn’t bother you?”
    “It does bother me. I’m very sensitive to the sunlight, but
it isn’t fatal unless I stay out too long. It’s much more comfortable to sleep
during the day, and be awake when it’s dark.” He sighed and yawned. “Is there
anything else you need, or can I go back to bed?”
    “Look. I’ve been alone since last night in a strange house
with nothing to do but watch fuzzy television shows on a set smaller than my
laptop screen. You don’t even have cable. Forgive me for wanting a little
normal conversation.”
    And the more she found out about him, the easier it would be
to figure out a way to get away from him. He was strong, she’d give him that,
but no one was invincible.
    “I am not capable of normal at six in the evening.”
    “Humor me.” She sat down on the edge of the bed and picked
up half a sandwich from the tray. She wrinkled her nose as the pungent smell of
peanut butter hit her. “Yuck.”
    “Deal with it. It’s all I have in the house.”
    She sighed and took a bite, swallowing it quickly so she
didn’t have to taste it. She set the rest of the sandwich back down on the
plate. One bite was plenty for now.
    Marco stood in the doorway for a long time before he sighed
and came into the room. To her disappointment, he closed and locked the door
behind him, pocketing the key and locking them both in the room. “Just in case
you get any ideas.” He flopped onto the bed and closed his eyes.
    There had to be another way to get out of this. If she’d
learned one thing in the endless parade of stepfathers her mother had subjected
her to, it was how to take care of herself in the face of threatening men.
Although Marco appeared far less threatening lying flat on his back across the
bed with his eyes closed and his arms sprawled over his head.
    Wondering if he was sleeping, she poked him lightly on the
side. Big mistake. In one swift move he had her pinned to the mattress, his big
body covering hers.
    “Don’t ever do that!”
    She whimpered at the feel of him over her. “Um, sorry.”
    He shook his head. “You still don’t know what you’re dealing
with, lady.”
    She licked her lips—a nervous habit, but apparently Marco
took it