Up in Smoke Read Online Free Page A

a second door leading to porch from the kitchen.
    He put his key into the lock, but held still for just a second. Turning to face her, he requested, “Please, excuse the mess. I just arrived yesterday and haven’t had time to unpack everything, yet.”
    They walked into the house a few seconds later and Susan gasped out loud. Nathaniel’s home was gorgeous. She shook her head as she quickly glanced around. There were a few boxes here and there, but other than that, his home was spotless. Even the boxes not unpacked yet were stacked neatly in a corner of the room, probably arranged in order based on where they belonged. The pieces of furniture were big and comfy looking. From where she was standing in the entryway, the room to the left looked to be a formal living room that he had turned into a library. Two walls were filled with nothing but bookshelves, and even then, the room still held a decent number of boxes in it. To the right of the front door was the dining room, and on past that was the kitchen. The entire back end of the house was a great room with large, sliding glass doors that lead out to a beautiful, two-tier deck. A large grill was on the deck, which she found a bit odd. Why would a vampire own such an expensive grill? Was it for show? He came up behind her and answered her unasked question. “I use the grill to cook Jake meat for dinner. That way, it looks normal if any of the neighbors are being nosy.”
    Susan finally allowed her eyes to take in the remainder of the backyard, which was large in her opinion. Her eyes landed on the next surprise and she gasped. “You have a pool?”
    He shrugged as if it were no big deal. “It came with the house. I figured with the Texas heat and all, I’d probably want one to cool off in when I’m not working. We can go for a swim later if you’d like.”
    Her eyes grew as round as saucers as she glanced up at him. “Oh, umm, I would love to, but I don’t have a bathing suit with me.”
    “We could always wait until it’s dark. Then, you could wear your undergarments. Covers you the same as if you had a bikini on,” Nathaniel reasoned.
    If he thought her eyes were big before, they damn near popped out of her head now. She stammered out her reply. “Uhhh, nnnn-ooo no,” she shook her head as her face heated up, bringing her cheeks to a rosy, red color.
    Nathaniel shook his head and turned away from the sliding glass doors. Women. He didn’t see anything wrong in her wearing undergarments to swim in. Unless…he could see she was wearing a bra, but her little skirt was too long and too dark to see through. He couldn’t see if she had any panties on. Hmm, maybe that was why he was smelling her lovely cream as strong as he was.
    He walked over to the sectional sofa and sat down. “Darlin', why don’t you come on over here and sit down so we can talk a bit.” He cringed as he heard his own words and wondered if he was the only man on earth that had asked a woman to “talk”.
    Susan walked over and sat down, leaving enough room between them for about three other people to sit. The thought of her not trusting him didn’t sit well, however, he had to look at things from her viewpoint. They had just met earlier that day. She had just recently discovered that most of the stories about things that go bump in the night held a certain amount of truth in them. And last, but not least, her own husband had betrayed her. She was probably feeling like she couldn’t trust the male population in general.
    He clasped his hands in front of him and glanced over to her. Back ramrod straight, she looked as if she could bolt out of his sliding glass door at any second.
    “Okay, I’ll start. You already know my name is Nathaniel Andrews, and that I’m Walter’s brother. And yes, you’ve probably already guessed, I’m a vampire.” He paused for a moment to let that sink in, watching her closely. When it didn’t look like she was going to respond in any way, he continued,