Free Blood Ecstasy (Blood Curse Series Book 8) by Tessa Dawn

And her naturally curved, arched brows were perfect in shape and fullness, accentuating her elegant features. She could have been a model if she chose, perhaps if she were a couple of inches taller, but either way, she had the kind of raw, organic beauty that turned heads in casual passing and probably stopped traffic on a daily basis.
    And she didn’t carry herself as if she knew it.  
    Always, a major plus.
    “Do you think I’m a freakin’ mouse?” she murmured, gesturing toward the tray full of cheese, as well as the water, as she crawled out from beneath the bench. “Or just too stupid to recognize a mouse-trap when I see one?”
    Julien chuckled deep in his throat. Touché. “No, love, I do not. I think you are human, and you need to stay hydrated. I think you need something to eat.”
    She clutched the meager throw blanket as she reached out to snatch the robe. “If you give me back my phone, I’ll order a pizza,” she quipped. “Look away.”
    Julien turned his head to the side and laughed again. “I can order you a pizza. Is that what you want?” He waited, listening for the fall of the blanket and tuning in to the brush of the robe, the sound of the terrycloth sash twisting into place as she tied it.  
    “I want to go home,” she said crossly. And just like that, the light-hearted banter had come to an end.  
    Julien met her serious gaze. “I know you do,” he whispered, “and I completely understand. But that is not a wish I can grant.” He inclined his head toward the tray. “Please, at least have something to drink.”
    “Like you did?” she replied curtly. Despite her courageous demeanor and her obvious irritation, the words were followed by a spike of fear. It was in her eyes. It was in her scent.  
    “Becca,” Julien breathed, softly. “I’m…I’m sorry.”
    Her expression betrayed her surprise. “For what?” Her tone was increasingly caustic. “For biting me in the throat or making me act like a whore?”
      A low, feral growl escaped Julien’s throat. “In a thousand lifetimes, under a thousand compulsions, you would never be that, not to me. And that is not what happened in my room.”
    She drew back, and then, seeming suddenly self-conscious, she took a reluctant seat on the floor and folded her legs in crisscross fashion as she leaned over the tray. She took a small piece of cheese and plopped it in her mouth, chewing like she had to force the effort, and then she twisted the cap off the bottled water and took a long, generous drink.  
    Julien exhaled slowly, feeling surprisingly relieved. “About what happened in the bedroom,” he began, knowing they needed to face it head-on, “you’ve gotta know, that’s not who I am, a male who takes advantage of women…just because he can. That’s not what happened, Rebecca.”
    She placed another slice of cheese on a cracker and slowly brought it to her lips, hesitating before she bit into it. “Then what did happen, Julien?” Her words were clipped, yet tentative.  
    He sighed. “When you came at me, by the window, you…you pushed a couple buttons…triggered some real ugly shit from my past. I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I didn’t want to hurt you—not that I would ever hurt a woman—but I just, I just wanted to change the scene. I made the wrong calculation. I made all the wrong moves.”
    She nodded, slowly. “And the opium doesn’t help.”
    He narrowed his gaze and looked right at her, sweeping his hand through his hair. “Actually, it does—and it’s not opium. But that’s my thing, baby, not yours. And it isn’t all the time.”
    She ate the cracker, stacked another one, and then took a second drag of water. “Why do you get high?”
    He jolted, just a little, a bit taken aback by her bluntness, but he supposed the question was fair. He shrugged a weighty shoulder and sighed. “It’s just…too loud, sometimes…the noise in my head. It gets dark…and heavy…and I just need a break.” He