Free Curiosity by Marie Rochelle

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter One
     
    He’s home!
    Krishell Tynan jumped up off the couch and rushed over to her own front door the second she heard the familiar jangle of her sexy neighbor’s keys in the hallway. Standing on her tiptoes, she peeked through the peephole, catching a glimpse the back of Devin Diamont’s towering six-foot-six-inch frame as he sauntered into his apartment.
    She bit back her groan of frustration as he closed the door behind him. How could her plan ever work to seduce him if she wasn’t able to catch him before he disappeared inside his condo?
    If she were a paranoid woman, she might start to believe Devin deliberately avoided her. That couldn’t be case, however, because she hadn’t spoken to Devin since their first encounter inside the elevator a few weeks back.
    Easing her condo door open, she stared longingly across the hall toward Devin’s condo. This was the final straw. Her mind was made up. She wasn’t going to back down. Tomorrow would be the night, she vowed, come hell or high water, to get her neighbor’s attention.
    Her curiosity about him was in overdrive, which meant she wouldn’t let it go until she got what she wanted, and that was Devin Diamont.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Stepping away from his door, Devin wondered how much longer he could pretend he didn’t notice Krishell. She tried to get his attention every time she saw him. She would be better off just leaving him alone, but for some odd reason, she was bound and more than determined to find a variety of ways to drive him crazy.
    Every day, he fought down the urge to throw her against the nearest wall and do everything his body craved.
    Shit, he’d even made a point of changing his work hours to put needed distance between them. Yet, every night when he came home, Devin still felt Krishell’s presence behind her closed door, beckoning him to come over there.
    When would she finally comprehend she didn’t need to try so hard to tease him? She already had his undivided attention. How did he tell her that she drew his desire years before their first meeting inside the elevator? She was his . He’d left his home and came here to claim her as his mate.
    Devin pushed aside drawings he brought home from work yesterday and picked up the black and white photo of Krishell from his cluttered desk. His father had given him the photograph years before he met Krishell in person and had explained how the woman in it was destined to be with him.
    Devin had asked his father numerous times how he knew about Krishell and how he got this picture of her, but his father could be stubborn and tightlipped when he wanted to be. This was one of those times. Devin never got any more information out of him about Krishell.
    The urge to find her and make her his had torn at Devin. Yet, his father had insisted he should wait because satisfaction was fast approaching, and it wouldn’t be the best time to make his presence known to her.
    Like a good son, he’d tried to wait until satisfaction was over, but the burning need to see her outweighed any common sense. What vampire wouldn’t want to mark his mate before another male did, especially a human one? He wasn’t about to sit back and allow that to happen. The impulse to find her and turn her was white hot .
    So, he’d packed a suitcase and left word for his father as to his whereabouts and moved here to Ariel, Kansas. For weeks after moving into the same building, in a condo across the hall from Krishell, he’d tried to find ways to run into her.
    Nothing had worked in his favor, and just as he was about to give up hope and head back home a defeated vampire, the elevator door opened and there stood his stunning mate looking sizzling hot . So gorgeous he almost tossed her over his shoulder right there and carried her back to his place. She was wearing a short, denim skirt and tight, ocean-blue T-shirt that displayed her firm breasts to perfection. Her black hair fell to her