Free Creature of Habit: Book Two (Creature of Habit #2) by Angel Lawson

me. His ability to link to my mind and thoughts allowed him to realize early on that you were special to me. He feels slighted by me in some way. You’re a pawn for him in this game,” I explain.
    "What makes you so important to him?"
    I absently twisted the silver and turquoise ring on her right hand, and said, "Caleb is convinced I have something that is his."
    “Did you cross paths with him before? Steal a girlfriend before you turned? Cut in front of him in line at the grocery store?”
    I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “We don’t go to the grocery—another joke?”
    “Someone has to lighten this up a little.”
    “I’ve lived a long life and remember very much about it. But Caleb doesn’t fit into anything that remotely makes sense. He may just be insane.”
    I lifted Amelia’s hand into my own, feeling her soft, delicate skin. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it, relaxing back into the leather cushion. Her heart thrummed and once again I located the spot I searched for on her wrist. I zeroed in on the pulsating vein and covered it with my thumb. I lowered my head to listen, brushing my hair against her bare arm.
    "Why do you keep doing that?" she asked, her voice truly curious.
    "Because I like to feel your heartbeat. Your life," I answered, skimming my fingers across her wrist and up her arm. She shivered but I could see the faint smile playing across her mouth. "I can hear it, you, through the entire house. Sometimes even outside." I wait for her to react. To panic at my intrusion but she stayed with me. "Your heartbeat has become my compass. At first though, it taunted and provoked me. It betrayed you, when I thought you were defiant to me, but now I'm at a loss when I can't find it."
    Her eyelids fluttered shut, a sign of trust and submission. She lay before me, open and willing. I pushed further, making sure she understood what I was implying, “You have no idea what is like to desire someone like this.”
    First a smile and then full laughter escaped Amelia’s mouth.  I stared at her. "Is this funny?"
    She shook her head and said, "No, but you're wrong. I have some idea what it’s like."
    I rolled my eyes at her pluck. "You can, you say?  When I’m with you I am completely overwhelmed by the desire to find you. To hunt you. I want to consume you. I have never in all my years wanted anything or anyone more than I want you."
    She extracted her wrist from my clutch and pulled my hand towards her, resting it on her knee. "So when you say you want me, what you really mean is that you want to eat me, right?"
    I narrowed my eyes at her crassness, and said, "Yes," in response.
    "And you don't think I understand this…desire?" she asked.
    I focused on the woman in front of me. What she was saying. I followed her every movement. She pulled my hand up to her nose and inhaled, mimicking my actions from earlier. "Grant, I haven't lived as long as you, clearly, but I have been around people, other men, and none of them have ever appealed to me the same way you do."
    I started to protest but she stopped me by holding up a hand and guiding my palm and fingers flat against hers. "Do you feel this between us?” she asked. “The energy? That has nothing to do with me being your dinner, although it does have everything to do with me and you."
    I shook my head. "You say this…but part of our allure is to be very attractive to humans. It’s how Sasha lured you away from the bar. It’s why Olivia makes you feel so comfortable."
    "Well, Olivia does smell nice,” she admitted. “And Elijah and Ryan do have a, uh, definite appeal…but that really has nothing to do with their scent as much as…well they are both very handsome." Handsome ? I thought, fighting back the jealousy. She raised an eyebrow at my alarmed expression. "Including these things none of them make me feel the way you do. You're the one I want Grant, do not misunderstand."
    Comprehension dawned on me and my shoulders tensed. "Some of what