Free The Silent Goddess: The Otherworld Series Book 1 by N.K. Vir Page B

ball had taken up residence and both of her earlier tours had to suffer as Annie chatted away so fast that she was almost incoherent.  By five o’clock her stomach was screaming for real calories instead of the rice cakes she had shoved into it a few hours ago.  Since she had a couple of hours to kill before the dreaded ghost tour Annie made her way to the Pedestrian Mall in search of pizza and a bottle of fizzy diet soda.  She planned to spend the next two hours huddled in a booth at her favorite pizzeria, nose buried in a book, preparing for the last leg of her day.
    She pushed her way through the early evening dinner crowd and up to the counter.  She placed her usual order and chatted amicably with the girl behind the counter as she waited patiently for her two slices of cheese pizza to be heated up to a perfect edible temperature.  When they were done and slid in front of her, her stomach growled in delight.
    “Oh, I’ve missed you,” she whispered to her dinner.
    “Well I’m here,” chuckled and accented voice behind her.
    Annie, startled, spun around yelping in surprise and lost her grip on her plate.  She watched in awe as lightning quick reflexes sprang into action rescuing her pizza from a painful fall to the floor.  Duncan balanced her breakfast, lunch and dinner on his hands under her nose.  Her eyes traveled slowly from her rescued pizza up to his face lingering to see the sights along the way. 
    She admired the fit of his light gray tee shirt; the way it clung perfectly to what she imagined was a well chiseled muscular torso.  Her eyes traveled up slowly resting briefly on the hollow where his collar bone met at the base of his throat.  Further up she admired the five o’clock shadow that hugged his jawline, and above that those wicked lips that she had fought all day to forget.  She watched as one corner of his mouth slowly raised up creating a devastatingly wicked half smile. 
    Unconsciously she licked her lips wondering if he tasted half as good as he looked.   She heard him suck in his breath and her eyes snapped up to meet his.  She watched as his steely blue eyes were overcome with a flood of some emotion that defied words.  For a moment the world stopped spinning, time froze and she was struck by the uncanny feeling that she should know this strange man so much better than she did.  He reminded her of her dreams, begging to be remembered.  She tried hard to shake the feeling that she knew this man much better than she actually did. 
    She reached into her memory searching its archives for some shred of evidence that he had existed somewhere in her life’s timeline before yesterday.  A tiny spark ignited, she saw a flash of a lake surrounded by fire and image of a figure hiding behind the flickering wall of flames.  She heard the howl of a man filled with frustration and pain then the vision snapped out of focus.  Annie heard another sound, a low rumbling growl.  At first she thought the sound had emanated in her throat, but it was quickly revealed that the sound had come from just slightly lower.
    “Hungry?”  Duncan asked as he teasingly waved her pizza under her nose.  Her traitorous stomach growled again.
    “Yes,” she muttered slightly embarrassed.  Her cheeks grew hot as she blushed.  Damn, she really knew how to make an impression.  Last night she had almost blown them up and now she was staring at him like he was something to be devoured.  As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough her empty stomach had decided now was a good a time to be heard.  Avoiding his eyes she reached for her plate so she could go hide in a hole far away from him and eat.  She held out her hands silently asking for her food.  He held it away from her.
    “Does it taste as good as it looks and smells?”  He asked.  She shivered in delight and reminded herself that he was asking about the pizza.
    A wicked grin possessed her mouth as she allowed the thought a little bit of life inside