A Hell Hound's Fire Read Online Free Page A

that around
here right now. Especially not good Irish whiskey.”
    “Aw, more’s the pity.” She gave him a smile
and tried to recover her composure as he retrieved his own plate.
“Water will be fine for now.”
    “Right.” Did she hear strain in his voice?
He returned to the table with her glass and his plate, but he
didn’t seem to carry any tension in his broad shoulders. Lovely,
strong shoulders with hard muscles stretching his shirt.
    Bloody hell . She’d never wanted
anyone like this, but the timing couldn’t be worse. Sarah forced
herself to concentrate on her food, though she barely tasted it
with the handsome male sitting beside her.
    They ate in silence as the rain pattered
against the windows of the house. Liam’s gaze kept flicking between
Sarah and Alex. She couldn’t scent any distress from him, only
curiosity. Thank the Goddess he’s not afraid for the
moment.
    They’d almost finished eating when Liam set
his glass down, and fixed Alex with a frank stare. “May I ask a
question, Alex?”
    Alex raised his eyebrow. “Sure, Liam. What
do you want to know?”
    “Why do you and my mama smell alike?”
    Alex’s second eyebrow joined the first and
he shot a look at Sarah. “I thought I smelled like hot rock.”
    “Yeah, you do. But now Mama smells like
that, too, a little.”
    “Does she?” A smile quirked Alex’s lips.
“I’ll have to check for myself.” He leaned over to Sarah and made a
big production of sniffing at her.
    “Hmm.” Alex frowned thoughtfully. “I smell
chicken, pasta, wolf, and…” He cocked his head quizzically, making
Liam giggle. “Girl.”
    “Ewww!” Liam scrunched up his nose. “That’s
the worst.”
    “Hey, now.” Sarah swiped at her son and he
dodged, laughing. “If I get attitude like that, it’s off to bed
with you.”
    “Aw, can’t I stay up longer, Mama?”
    “No, we’ve had a long day, and we need as
much rest as we can get.” Sarah rose from her seat and collected
their plates.
    “Can I at least get a bedtime story?” Liam
pushed back from the table and stood by his chair.
    “Of course you can. Off you go, now. I’ll be
right up.” She shooed her son toward the stairs.
    “Don’t worry about the dishes. I’ll get
them.” Alex took the plates from her and smiled. “You go get Liam
ready for bed.”
    “Are you sure? You cooked.”
    Alex laughed. “I take it as a great
compliment you didn’t spit it out in disgust. I’ll get this.” He
waved her off and Sarah nodded.
    She followed Liam, wondering why it was so
hard to leave the kitchen behind. Chewed bones, you’re worse
than a pup with her first scent of roses. Get it together. But
Alex didn’t smell like roses. He smelled like heaven and everything
inside her clamored to claim it before it disappeared.
    “Mama, there aren’t any sheets.” Liam held
the coverlet off one of the beds.
    “Right. Let’s see what’s in the linen
closet.”
    She made the bed and Liam climbed between
the fresh sheets.
    “What shall we read?”
    He reached out and grabbed the book off the
bedside table as she sat beside him.
    “This one again?”
    “Yes, please.” Liam nodded with an
anticipatory smile.
    Sarah sighed. “Oh, what places you’ll
go…”
     
     

 
    Chapter Three

    Alex filled the dishwasher and set it to
clean as he thought about Liam’s question. Had his scent changed?
He sniffed under his arms, but nothing seemed different to him.
Nothing more than his own sweat came to his nose and he shook his
head. Maybe the kid had simply smelled him on the stuff in the
house and mixed it with his mother’s scent.
    Good story, but you never mixed up scents
even at that age, his Brother quipped.
    The only time he’d ever heard of people’s
scents mixing occurred after sex, and he’d done nothing of the sort
with Sarah Flanagan. He’d kissed her, and the memory of her lips
sent blood straight to his cock until it nudged the fly of his
jeans.
    Mine, his Brother insisted.
    Not tonight,