Demon's Hunger by Eve Silver Page B

prerequisites for the forensic anthropology program." She fell silent, blew out a breath, gave a shaky little laugh. "So… yeah… that's my story."
    Dain had known all that. It didn't come as any surprise. Still, he felt the rawness of it, the loss, heard an undercurrent to her words that told him there was more to it than that. She had shared this with him. Why? Maybe because she needed to let it out.
    For some crazy reason, he was glad that he was here to listen.
    "Your whole story?" he asked, not certain why he prodded, not certain why he even wanted to know. But he did.
    Her brow furrowed, and her reply was slow in coming. "A part of me—a big part—has always blamed myself, because I let him go off angry, let him leave when he was in such a fury. Macho posturing and teenaged testosterone." She tapped the fork on her plate again, faster, a brief, staccato burst. "I can't believe I'm telling you this." She shook her head and whispered, "For a very long time, I wished I could have sixty seconds of that night, just sixty seconds to live over again."
    Dain nodded, stunned that she'd shared this with him. Touched. A little freaked because he understood all about regret and blame and wishing you could have just that one moment to do over. Jesus, what was it with Vivien Cairn touching the live wire of his emotions?
    What was it about her that made him want to open his mouth and let his own dark tale pour free?
    He knew exactly how she felt, exactly how strong the yearning could be, the aching wish to have a chance to say good-bye.
    "And now what do you wish?" he asked, knowing he should just let it go. Not ask. Not care.
    "Now?" She blinked, gave a shaky laugh. "I don't wish. There's no point. If wishes were pennies…" She met his gaze head-on, and he saw old pain, resignation, and strength. Incredible strength. "Those seconds are gone, and I can never retrieve them."
    He inhaled sharply. Those seconds are gone . Gone, like Moria and Ciel were gone. Too late.
    "In an instant, that moment is gone, and it's too late," he murmured.
    "Yes," she whispered.
    She was watching him, her gaze focused, and it made him uncomfortable, the knowledge and understanding he read in her eyes, the connection to her. It also made her unbelievably attractive to him.
    "I've never talked to anyone about Pat. Never told anyone about keeping his T-shirt." She frowned at her salad, stabbed a leaf and ate it.
    Vivien Cairn was one tough lady.
    One tempting lady, on so many levels.
    And he wanted her with a hard-edged intensity.
    The demon bone was locked up tight in the vault, had been since the second they'd returned to his penthouse, so he couldn't blame his raw lust on its dark aura. There was no one to blame but himself. He had no business lusting after her, no business liking her.
    He needed to focus on the task at hand. He needed her help to determine if his suspicions about the contents of the red gris-gris bags were fantasy or fact. He needed answers.
    And he needed to stop thinking about raking his arm over the countertop to clear it, laying Vivien across it, ripping that skimpy little black top off her body, jerking her jeans down her hips.
    Licking his way along her naked skin, inch by luscious inch.
    He shot her a glance, found her watching him, her stunning hazel eyes heavy-lidded, her lips moist and parted. Oh, yeah. She was back to eyeing him like he was dessert. He saw her pretty white teeth and the tip of her tongue… thought of all the places on his body that he'd like to feel her teeth and tongue.
    Fuck.
    He was so screwed.
    Swiveling his ergonomic, ecofriendly task chair, Javier Saint aimed the remote at the flat screen on the opposite wall, turned it on, and cranked the volume.
    God bless MTV.
    There were times he enjoyed the quiet. This morning wasn't one of them. Actually, he'd started to crave noise. Maybe he was hanging with Darqun too much.
    He spun his chair to face the bank of three computers before him. His little hobby.