Free Obey Me by Paige Cuccaro Page B

the table. “So are you, uh, feeding on anyone…exclusively?”
    His cheeks flushed and a smile swept across his lips. “No. I’m not. And on that note, I think I should get you home before Octavius’s venom has us both doing something we might regret.”
    I glanced at the couple again, my mouth dry, my palms moist. Yeah, I knew a lot of what I was feeling was the effect of vamp venom. But the connection I felt with Alex, like we’d known each other for years, was a chemical reaction all my own and no amount of sobering up would diminish it.
    “Right. And when this stuff wears off I’ll make me a quick snack for you. Uh, I mean, I’ll make you a quick snack.” Subtle is sooo not my middle name.

Chapter Six
    A faint tingle still tickled along my lips and down the center of my tongue, like I’d rubbed a finger of Bengay over the sensitive flesh—only minus the nasty taste. My finger and toe tips were the same way as well as the most intimate parts of my body. The last is what had me staring at Alex like a nympho at a porn star.
    “Thanks for the lift,” I said. “Not sure I had enough money in this stupid little purse to afford another cab ride.”
    He lifted his chin in a half nod, eyes on the road, then glanced at me and back again. “No problem. Besides, the purse matches the dress, right? Uh, nice dress by the way.” He glanced at me again just as the cab of his pickup lit with a passing streetlight, a quick flash, enough that I could see the male appreciation on his face before it went dark again.
    I kept watching the handsome lines of his face by the green glow of the dashboard, my body warm and tingly with need.
    “You said Cook Road?”
    I nodded then realized he couldn’t hear a nod. “Yeah. That’s it up there on the left. Third house. The one with the wide steps. Don’t you remember? I mean, you just broke into the place the other night.”
    I lived in a big brownstone that’d been divvied up into four apartments with a common hall and front door. Pretty nice actually, if not small and overpriced.
    I think he blushed, a smile sweeping across his face as he looked at me sideways. “Yeah. I wasn’t really paying attention. I was pissed ’cause I thought you were the one setting me up. Kinda just went on instinct. Followed my nose.”
    “You smelled your way here? I smell?” Ugh, not good.
    “No. Well, yes. But no.” He pulled the truck into an open spot a few up from my apartment door, bumped the gearshift into park and turned off the engine. “I followed my scent on you. Remember, I licked my thumb to try and rub that mark off your neck?”
    Yeah. I remembered. I remembered so well a quick shiver raced down my body like a blast of hot air. Yum. I bobbed my head in dimwitted affirmation.
    “And everyone smells, err…I mean, has a scent. Yours is…” he inhaled through his nose, “…nice. Kind of flowery, with maybe a hint of shea nut, maybe vanilla too.”
    “That’s my shampoo.”
    “It’s nice.”
    “Thanks.” Weird conversation. “You really thought I was the one killing those women?”
    He looked away, his mouth opening and shutting twice before he finally said, “I…I thought you might’ve had something to do with it. Yeah.”
    “What do you think now?”
    “I think…I think you’re a great girl and that you should let me worry about it.” He pulled the key from the ignition. “Mind if I walk you all the way up? I’d feel better if I can check the place. Make sure you’re safe, before I take off.”
    “No. I’d appreciate it. Thanks.” I pushed open the truck door and hopped out, ignoring the way my stomach wobbled at the thought of him in my apartment again. I came around the front of the truck and met him on the sidewalk. “I can help figure out who’s doing this, you know. I am an investigative journalist, after all. With, I might add, the power to suggest people, including vampires, do whatever I want. Could come in handy. Especially with the