Free Just One Bite by Barbara Elsborg Page A

wouldn’t have tracked her down
to apologize. Liv was a sucker for guys with good manners. Oh damn.
    “Apology accepted. I’m fine. Just a few scratches. ’Bye.”
Liv turned and he was suddenly in front of her. Wow, speedy guy.
    “The thing is,” he said, “and I’m really sorry to have to
tell you this, but I might have infected you.”
    Liv gulped as the bottom fell out of her world.
“Wha-wha-wha…” Damn, she sounded like a helicopter. Her head flooded with
thoughts of hepatitis, HIV, the Ebola virus, bird flu.
    He bent to whisper in her ear, “I’m a werewolf.”
    Liv’s jaw didn’t just drop—it hit the ground and bounced. Oh
God, he was out on day release from an asylum. Tall, dark and delicious
regressed to tall, menacing and…darn it, he was still delicious. Plus, she had
to give him points for an original pick-up line. He looked at her expectantly.
    Play nice with the lunatic. “I see,” Liv said, and
nodded in what she hoped was a caring way, sliding her foot back as she spoke
and looking round for men carrying a tight-fitting white jacket in his size.
“I’ll be sure to look out for signs of rabies.”
    He gave her a puzzled look.
    Okay, not rabies. That’s good. Liv took another step
back.
    He moved forward and glanced up. “It’ll be a full moon
tonight.” His eyes darkened.
    All the better to… Oh God.
    “Mmm.” Another step back. Next time she went out, she was
buying mace or a machete. Maybe both. Liv spent her days dealing with the
results of the unexpected, but even she hadn’t expected to ever meet a
werewolf. Not that he was, of course.
    “It’s possible nothing will happen,” he said. “But I can’t
take the risk. I need to stay and look after you. I’d never forgive myself if
you were hurt. You’re much too pretty.” He smiled again with those perfect
teeth.
    All the better to… Stop it. Liv exhaled. Hopefully it
was a coincidence she wore a red dress. If only they’d been in a bar and he’d
bought her a drink, or three, and they’d spent a few hours flirting, and he’d
called her pretty a half-dozen times, then maybe, just maybe she’d have been up
for this. Except for the werewolf bit, of course. She took another step
backward.
    “Going to invite me in?” he asked.
    His question triggered a memory of a TV show. “No.” She
stared at him. “So you can’t come in, can you?” Why did the attractive ones
have to be either gay or nut jobs? “I haven’t invited you into my apartment so
you have to stay outside.”
    “That’s vampires.”
    Damn, so it was.Her shoulders slumped. “So you don’t
sparkle either?”
    He glared. “You’re not taking this seriously.”
    Liv put on her stern face and thought of her old Latin
teacher who had eyes like a hawk, a sharp mouth and loved pop quizzes.
Guaranteed to snap her straight into gloom. “I am taking it seriously.” You’re
insane, that’s very serious.
    She glanced around. Where were crowds when she needed them?
    He sighed. “Please let me come with you to your apartment.
No funny business, I promise.”
    “Let me think. No.”
    Actually, bad girl that she was, idiot that she was, Liv
fancied a bit of funny business. It had been far too long since— She gave
herself a hard mental slap. He thought he was a wolf. She was allergic to dogs.
This was not a match made in heaven.
    “I’ll cook for you.” He held up a bag. “Steak.”
    He had huge black eyes, the longest lashes she’d ever seen,
and her willpower was a weak, pathetic little thing easily stamped on.
    Ouch.
    “Oh all right,” she muttered.
    It beat watching a rerun on the TV while she ate a soggy
microwave meal, plus her father had always told her to be kind to those less
fortunate than herself—such as basket cases. Especially if they made her heart
jump and her bits tingle, except not if they thought they’re a werewolf. Well
no, her father hadn’t said any of that. His advice when Liv left home was,
“Keep your knickers on.”