Read Mr. Real (Code of Shadows #1) for Free Online Page B

softest thing ever, with little pearl buttons. She’d also put on all of her favorite silver bracelets, and a bottle of Denali sat on the far counter. She’d opened it up and sampled it. Still gross. No wonder nobody drank it.
    She waited in the living room, reading the Malcolmsberg Herald with the comprehension of a rabbit, and then put it aside and scratched Lindy’s ears. “What would Hardass Paul say about this?” she asked Lindy.
    For once it wasn’t funny. When Alix thought it through, something she vowed to do more of from now on, she knew that she would be mad if somebody ordered a duplicate of her to have sex with, and she was pretty easygoing.
    She hoped Hardass Paul wouldn’t find out about this. But really, why would he?
    She went to the fireplace and tilted the blue pencil nude of Aunt Veronica, so that it hung perfectly level with the mantel. It wasn’t proper art for a bed & breakfast, but the picture was beautiful and drawn out of love, and Aunt Veronica was a generous woman who deserved to be honored and remembered. People could screw themselves if they didn’t like it.
    Little by little, she was collecting old pictures and furniture, refinishing stuff in the basement. The mission-style couch and chair were just right—classic, comfy, and sturdy. She’d also found a fabulous marble coffee table, some brightly painted bird statuettes, and lots of tropical-looking plants. In fact, the plants could use some water.
    At 7:42, she filled her watering pail and started watering the plants.
    At around 7:46, Lindy began to bark.
    Footsteps on the porch. Three firm knocks at the door.
    Alix stood frozen, watering pail in hand, pulse racing.
    He’d arrived.
    She stared at the spot between the coat hooks and the foyer table—the Sir Kendall fucking spot—terrified and excited all at once.
    Lindy barked like mad.
    Alix shushed her in the stern way that meant business. She put down the watering pail, walked to the foyer like she wasn’t freaking out, and opened the door.
    And there he was.
    Sir Kendall leaned easily against a porch pillar, leaned there like he owned the entire house and grounds, perhaps all of Malcolmsberg. His black dinner jacket hung open, as his dinner jackets always did, and his deep blue shirt matched his deep blue eyes to a nearly feverish degree.
    Her mouth went dry.
    In a movement more animal than human, Sir Kendall pushed off the pillar. His shirt tightened briefly on his chest, seeming to caress it. He moved toward her, eyes twinkling triumphantly, as though he knew all of her secrets, all her saucy scenarios. And relished every dirty detail.
    “Ms. Alexis Gordon?”
    It was weird hearing him say her name. Had he read it off the mailbox?
    She tilted her head, shambled on an inquisitive expression. “Yes? Can I help you?”

CHAPTER THREE
       
    The fact that the girl recognized him the instant she opened the door—and then attempted to conceal her reaction—led Sir Kendall to a number of linked realizations.
    First, this girl was one of Hyko’s operatives and not a very experienced one at that.
    Sir Kendall had been annoyed by the abrupt change in plans—he had barely begun questioning that barmaid half a world away before being pulled here. But Hyko wouldn’t have put an operative in place if he didn’t need to safeguard something. Sir Kendall being sent here was clearly for the best.
    His second realization: her mission would be to distract him from learning what there was to learn in this place, which undoubtedly had to do with Hyko’s deadly launch. Third: Sir Kendall would be better off playing along with the girl, at least for the moment. Fourth: he would have to kill her.
    And he would not enjoy it.
    All this ran through Sir Kendall’s mind in the moments between Alexis Gordon opening the door and her saying, “Yes? Can I help you?”
    Inwardly, Sir Kendall sighed. Why, after all these years, would Hyko send a woman to deal with him? It was like sending a dove out