Naughty Karma: Karmic Consultants, Book 7 Read Online Free Page B

employer rather than a woman who had been undone by a single stroke of his index finger. “Good. Now unlock this door.”
    One brow arched. “That door? Was it locked?”
    The door swung open an inch, bumping against her shoulders and shoving her farther into the room. “Bastard.”
    He bowed. “Until Monday, Karma. Sleep well, angel.”
    He disappeared into a back room before she could make a satisfyingly dramatic exit. Skulking out with those words lingering behind him, taunting her. It was as if the bastard somehow knew she’d been plagued by insomnia her entire life.
    She moved out of the door’s path and it swung open all the way. Deciding it was best to take advantage of the exit before Prometheus changed his mind, she stepped out onto the sidewalk, the night air closing around her. She didn’t bother trying to slam the door behind her. It closed on its own with a near-silent click.
    The warm summer night should have been comforting after the over air-conditioned shop, but she felt a more distinct chill now than she had in the damn warlock’s presence. The man was a human furnace.
    If he even counted as human without a beating heart.
    Karma shuddered. What had she gotten herself into? Deals with the devil were dangerous to meddle in. Why had she said yes?
    Because she was a good person and she helped people. Even those who didn’t particularly deserve it. Or because Prometheus had implanted the idea that she was a good person and helping him would somehow prove that?
    She strode quickly toward her car, feeling more in control with each step away from the shop. That hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but she could handle it. She could handle anything. She was still in control.
    No matter what Prometheus and his wandering fingers thought.

Chapter Five
    Pandora’s Insomniac
    Karma woke with a jerk, sucking in air with a hard gasp ripping her throat raw. She never came awake peacefully. The visions that chased her out of her dreams prevented that.
    Gulping for oxygen, she rolled to study the illuminated face of her clock. Three-twenty in the morning. She’d managed to grab two whole hours of sleep this time. Not quite a personal best, but not far from it.
    Karma untangled herself from the twisted covers and climbed out of bed, setting about the soothing routine of changing the sweaty sheets for fresh, crisp linens. She wouldn’t be getting back to sleep again tonight. Her heart rate gradually slowed as her hands went through the familiar motions, tugging and smoothing the cotton-and-silk blend.
    She’d been Ciara this time. And she’d been drowning. Water had gushed into her nose and mouth, burning in her lungs, a searing pain radiating through her body as something held her under.
    Since Ciara was one of her finders who spent the better part of her life floating in a pool to reduce the psychic dissonance caused by her gift, the dream was terrifyingly possible. Ciara was currently at odds with her new FBI handler, but surely he wouldn’t hurt her, or allow anyone else to. Though Karma had never met the man, so she didn’t have much to go on.
    Instinct demanded she do something, but years of experience had taught Karma how to read the dreams, even if she couldn’t control them, and this one wouldn’t come true for several more days, if it came true at all. No need to call Ciara at three in the morning in a panic.
    She’d learned the hard way when she was a teenager that people generally appreciated her “hunches” more when they weren’t accompanied by pre-dawn hysteria.
    Karma looked down at the military precision of her made bed. Her hands had stopped shaking by the time she aligned the last pillow. Neat. Orderly. In control. So she could breathe again, master the fear that lingered.
    The dreams always felt so real. Even if it never came true and Ciara escaped without a scratch, Karma couldn’t forget the feeling of water setting her lungs on fire.
    If she told Prometheus about this, maybe he