Free A Beauty Dark & Deadly (A Dark & Deadly Series Book 1) by Heather C. Myers

bridge of his nose until it hung on the flare of his nostrils, his brows were pushed together, and his lips, though covered, were pursed.  This was his usual position, or, at least, it had been for the past few months.  He had a couple of pages with introductions and dialogue, but for whatever reason, they were never good enough.  How many thrillers had he written before this?  Shouldn’t this come easy to him, or had he used all he had concerning somewhat similar plots?  Maybe he should switch gears, write a horror story instead of his usual choice of genre?
     
    His dark eyes rolled over to his window, the sunlight hidden by blinds with only rays peeking through the spaces.  Jason stood up, and using his fingers, he pushed the middle portion of the blinds down until his eyes sought out what he was looking for.  Emmy Atler was outside, looking at something in the forest.  He couldn’t quite make out what she was looking at exactly, but he didn’t particularly care.  If he was being honest, he really liked simply looking at her.  She was very attractive, and yet he doubted that she even knew it.  The clothes she wore were more for comfort rather than style, and her hair was either tumbling down her back or tossed in a messy ponytail or a bun.  Her reaction to his presence was quite amusing, if not fascinating.  He was pretty sure that she had heard of his trial, of the charges brought against him (and later dismissed), and she was obviously frightened of him.  How could she think that he would ever hurt her?  That would be like harming a butterfly, something so fragile and yet so beautiful.
     
    He wasn’t exactly sure how she perceived him, however.  When he had walked into his bedroom and found her sitting in his bedroom looking at his old wedding photograph of him and Stacey, he startled her unintentionally.  He wasn’t sure how he felt, seeing her there, watching her look at something that he felt was incredibly private.  Jason wasn’t angry or offended, but he did not want her to see that photo.  There were times he missed Stacey, but then he remembered what she had done to him, how everything he worked so hard for crumbled into pieces right before his eyes.  When she died, she took his muse with him.  In fact, he wasn’t exactly sure why he still had the picture out.  And Emmy looked up with those big eyes of hers, full of fear, that any anger that might have bubbled inside of him, immediately dissipated.  How could he be angry with her?
     
    Jason released the blinds and sat back down.  He brought his chair closer to his desk and began typing.  Characters never came easily for him; it was plot he was good at, but for whatever reason, a description flew through his fingertips, and his typing became almost furious.  It was of a woman he was writing about; she was lost, alone, and very beautiful, but naturally so.  Whatever sparked this burst of inspiration, he did not know, but as soon as it hit him, it spread like wildfire, and soon, he had an idea which was coming alive on his page.  The screen was not blank anymore.
     
    It seemed like hours when he finally finished the first chapter, but he smiled, feeling incredibly accomplished.  He hadn’t even taken a cigarette break.  He sat back, his eyes scanning the screen as though he couldn’t quite believe that he had written anything, let alone a full chapter.  A small smile had touched his lips and his fingers interlocked and rested behind his head.  However, he still wasn’t exactly sure how this story was going to turn out, but that didn’t bother him as of yet.  Briefly, he wondered what time it was.  He really should keep some sort of clock in here, but he didn’t want to get distracted by the ticking of a clock.  It was then he remembered there was one in the very corner of his laptop.  Hmm… one o’clock.  At that moment, his stomach rumbled noisily, reminding him that he needed to eat.  Maybe Emmy had lunch ready