Son of Eden, a Paranormal Romance Read Online Free Page B

need to pick up some items for James Wallace.”
    “James Wallace, huh, you must be the daughter he always talks about.”
    “I am.” Emily was a bit shocked that the man would know who she was.
    “I tease him about some of the dresses he sends through some times. I tell him they aren’t his color or size. He says they’re for his daughter, but I hadn’t ever seen you so I just keep on teasing him.” The little round man gave a chuckle.
    Emily smiled. “Are his items ready? I know he’s had them here a while. He’s really bad about picking them up.”
    “I know, he never comes when his stuff is ready.” The man threw his arms up. “I always tell him that I’ll have to send it all through again because it collects dust waiting for him. But actually he came by this morning.”
    The surprise showed on her face. “Wow, what a shocker.”
    “Sorry you came all this way,” he apologized.
    “No, it’s fine. I just stopped by on my way to another shop around here. Actually if you could help me, am I correct in thinking this address is just down the street?” Emily showed the man the business card.
    “Yep, that’s just north two blocks, and then hang a left on 85 th . It’s about another block.”
    Emily was a little off on her estimation, but it wasn’t a big difference. What was another block? Besides she enjoyed walking, riding everywhere made her feel lazy.
    “Thank you,” Emily replied.
    “It was nice to finally meet you; I guess I’ll have to stop giving your dad a hard time about the dresses now.”
    “No, he needs someone teasing him, it keeps him humble. Thanks again!” Emily called out over her shoulder as she exited the store.
    She headed north, wrapping her scarf around her neck and closing her knee-length pea coat tighter around her body. It was still winter, but the weather was tolerable. After walking a block the same thought came to her head. “ Don’t walk, take a cab .” Emily shrugged it off again. This place was deserted. There were barely any cabs around and no one else on the streets.
    Or so she thought.
    She was approaching the corner when a large man walking the opposite direction came into her view. He was slightly hunched, his black leather jacket curled tightly around him as if he were hiding his face. His posture alarmed her at first but it was cold out. Emily reasoned with herself that he was probably just trying to stay warm.
    The two soon crossed paths. Emily kept her eyes down, gripping the violin case tighter. She felt her body relax after he had passed, but her relief was premature. Within seconds of passing the man, she heard his steps change from their rhythmic pattern. It sounded as though his shoes pivoted on the pavement. Emily didn’t dare glance back. Instead she instinctively began walking faster. She was only about fifteen feet from turning the corner.
    “Just get to the corner and run. Just get to the corner and run,” s he chanted to herself.
    Then she felt it. A cold, strong hand grabbed the collar of her coat, jerking her sharply backward. Her back slammed into the man’s hard chest as he quickly used his other hand to cover her mouth. Dragging her backward, he maneuvered her into the alley about ten feet behind them.
    Emily was panicking. With an alarmed reaction she shot her hands toward her mouth, trying to free the man’s grip. She had dropped the violin case and was now wishing she had it. She could have used it to hit him.
    Emily knew the best thing for her to do was to fight back. She had told herself that if she were ever attacked she would fight as hard as she could. She always heard that the people who survived assaults were the ones who fought back. But Emily was no match; her attacker outweighed her by a hundred pounds. Even though she was squirming and kicking there would be no eluding the man. He had an iron grip. The criminal was experienced at this and held Emily in a position with her back to him which made it hard to gouge at his