Free Enchanting Absinthe (Sex with Strings, Book Four) by Shona Husk Page B

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    The silence started asking its own questions, in harmony with her body’s demands. Without looking at him, Claire asked the first innocuous question that came to mind.
    “Is William Black your real name?”
    “No. I haven’t used that in over four hundred years.”
    She unlocked the house. If she sold it, it would be her first big sale. Her parents had offered her this one. It was their way of making her prove herself and binding her into the family business. Her father would be furious if he knew she’d been with a Vampire. He wasn’t happy she’d defied the Council, Winters was a respected Shaman name, but she was beyond caring.
    As if money and respect could compensate for what the Council demanded. While she understood the reasons and knew that without the ruling the Shamanic bloodline would vanish and become extinct, it was unfair.
    She had looked into why the Council had banned unions with Vampires. There had been some massacre in Italy a few hundred years ago after a Shaman had raped a Vampire. There’d been retaliation from the Vampires and more than a dozen Shamen had been killed, wiping out the entire Fiorelli bloodline. Her gaze slid to Absinthe. His dark hair, green eyes and olive skin. He hated Shamen because he’d been there. She was sure of it, but she didn’t know how to ask what involvement he’d had. Not that it would change anything.
    Without looking at him, she walked around listing the features, the way she’d done countless times before. Absinthe followed but didn’t look at the house. The air around her warmed. He was watching her the way a leopard might watch its prey before pouncing and breaking its neck.
    She opened up the balcony and breathed in cold air that didn’t smell like him. That didn’t clog her senses and make her want him. It was more than simple lust pulsing through her, she needed him the way plants craved water and sunlight. Without him, she’d wither and die. It was something to do with the bond. It had been magic beyond her ability, but it had worked. Maybe it had worked too well. The breeze cooled her skin and allowed reason to break through.
    She had to know why he’d come back. She turned and leaned against the railing as Absinthe, William, she corrected herself, stepped outside.
    “Are you really here for real estate?”
    “Of course.”
    “There are hundreds of other agents and houses.”
    “It had to be you.” He sang it. “It had to be you, Claire.” He pulled her to him.
    The heat invaded her blood.
    Absinthe whispered as he caressed the back of her neck. “I’ve thought of no one since. Been with no one since.” He kissed the corner of her lips. “Not used magic since.”
    He kissed her fully, and her traitorous lips responded, seeking more of him. Her tongue ignored her brain’s warning that this would only pour energy into the connection.
    He drew back, leaving her gasping, and looked into her eyes. “Do you know why, Claire?”
    She shook her head, not knowing where he was going, only that he wasn’t going to say what she wanted to hear.
    “Because it is gone. Bonnie will not sing. I play by memory only, no magic forms.”
    He ran the back of his fingers down the side of her neck, the side he’d bitten. Did he remember? “You took it. I want it back.”
    “I took nothing. Do you think I sucked it out your cock?”
    “That’s exactly what I think. You came to me for a power boost and you got more than you bargained for.”
    He didn’t know how true his words were. The truth rested on the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t want to tell him out of anger or to make him suffer. “I can’t take magic.”
    His eyes narrowed. She saw in his face that this was hurting him and confusing him. He’d never had any magical training. He acted on instinct and desire and it had gotten him this far. She sighed. She didn’t want to fight with him. She hadn’t dreamed of him for months only to get a second chance and destroy it. Was this