Free Midnight by Elisa Adams Page B

interested in her money. What was
left?
    Marco. And what a hell of a consolation prize he was.
    He continued. “Consider this a vacation in the surreal.
Relax and enjoy yourself. When I send you home, feel free to alert the
authorities. Trust me on this—they will never find me.”
    And she’d be all alone. As uncertain as she was about him
and what they had going on, she didn’t like the thought of never seeing him
again. “What would you do if I left?”
    “Move on. It’s what I always do, when I’ve been some place
for too long.”
    “You’d just leave? Just like that? No goodbyes to anyone?”
    “I don’t have many close friends. It’s just not a safe thing
for me to do.” He got up from the table and walked to the deck railing, staring
out into the blackness of the night. “The few friends I have understand my
situation. Ellie, the woman who brought your clothes, is probably the only one
I’d miss. But I never stay away from her for long.”
    Ellie? Jealousy rose in her, confusing her. She had no claim
to Marco. She didn’t want to claim him in any way. Right? He’d kidnapped her. He came into her house and took her, brought her here and locked her in
his bedroom for days on end.
    And he was the best lover she’d ever had. That had to
count for something. At least it did to her. She didn’t know anything about his
sexual practices. For all she knew, vampires had wild orgies all the time.
    “Who is Ellie?” She spoke slowly, not sure if she really
wanted his answer.
    Marco laughed. He turned from the railing and walked over to
her. “Are you a little worried?”
    She shook her head quickly. “Of course not. I’m
just…curious.”
    “Curious.” He took a deep breath. “Ellie is a close friend,
and nothing more. In some ways she’s like a little sister to me. In others, she’s
more like a mother hen. It’s a complicated relationship, one I’ll explain some
other time. You’ve heard enough for a while, I think.”
    “So you two never…”
    “Ellie and I have never slept together. We never will,
either.”
    Maybe she was a hideous beast. She smiled, feeling a little
better. “Oh. Is Ellie a vampire, too?”
    He shook his head. “No, Ellie is not a vampire. But she is
the only woman I’ve ever met who understands me.”
    That remark stung. “I understand you.”
    He raised a brow. “Do you? I don’t think so.”
    She waved a hand in the air. “Please. You’re not that hard
to understand. When you want something, you take it. You don’t ask, because
that would be a sign of weakness. Women have no place in your life, except as
toys. When you get mad, you act first and worry about the consequences later.
You’re impulsive, arrogant, and feel like you’re entitled to whatever you want.
Thinking about the other people involved is secondary.”
    She cocked her head to the side and waited for his response.
He said nothing.
    “Don’t bother to deny it, because I can see in your eyes how
right I am.” She shook her head. “And believe me, it has nothing to do with you
being a vampire. That just seems to be a group of traits most men have.”
    “You paint me in a very bad light, woman.”
    She shrugged. “All men are the same. What can I say?”
    “Although you’re right about quite a bit, us lowly males do
have some good qualities, too.”
    “And what would those be?” She had yet to see them. Even the
ones she thought she could trust, like Robby, turned on her eventually.
    She wasn’t even going to get started on Derek. To think, she’d
actually planned on marrying the guy. She was glad that she’d told him he had
to wear a condom for extra protection until after the wedding. Who knows what
kind of diseases she might have picked up, since he’d apparently slept with
just about everyone he’d ever met.
    “You’re just going to have to find that out on your own. It
won’t be too hard, if you’re really interested in looking.” He walked back
inside, stopping by the