The Craving Read Online Free Page A

necklace. She worked as a sales rep for a large pharmaceutical company called Primus, currently working on selling a new oral contraceptive, and she always had to look her best for her meetings with physicians. Meanwhile Simon was in his usual daddy outfit—jeans and an old gray hoodie.
     
    “What a day,” Alison said. “I think I’ve been running around nonstop since seven A.M. ”
     
    Since Simon had lost his job, Alison had been the financial provider for the family. She worked nine to five, though some days she left earlier and came home later, especially on days she entertained doctor clients—taking them out to fine restaurants, sporting events, and Broadway shows.
     
    Unable to block out the wonderful aroma of her body after a longworkday, Simon said, “I know, I can tell.” He imagined grabbing her, putting her on the countertop, then pulling up her dress and ravishing her. If fantasies of steak and sausage were the main behavioral symptom of Simon’s being a werewolf, thoughts of sex, particularly with Alison, were a close second. If it were up to him, he would be all over her all the time, making love to her multiple times every night. Sounded like the perfect marital situation except for one small problem—the last time he’d tried to seduce her, he’d nearly transformed into a werewolf and mauled her to death, so—at least until he figured out how to control his transformations—actual sex was out of the question.
     
    “What can you tell?” Alison asked.
     
    Simon was lost, distracted.
     
    “How can I tell what?”
     
    “You said you can tell.”
     
    “I did?”
     
    “Are you okay?”
     
    “Yeah.” Simon realized he was actually panting. “I guess I, um, didn’t hear you come in, that’s all.”
     
    It was a lame excuse but the best he could come up with. He tried to strike the sexual thoughts from his consciousness, but it was nearly impossible. They say that men think about sex at least once every two minutes—well, for Simon it was probably every thirty seconds. Complicating things, he just couldn’t seem to control his brain the way he used to. Sometimes he felt like a puppet, as if someone had taken control of his behavior and actions and he was just a defenseless observer.
     
    Alison came over and kissed him quickly on the lips—he couldn’t help getting a little aroused—and then her gaze darted around the kitchen and through the pass-through toward the living room and dining room.
     
    “The apartment looks great,” she said. “Thanks for cleaning up.”
     
    “No problem,” he said.
     
    He purposely hadn’t turned toward her and the bulge in his jeans was pressed up against the stove, hidden from her view.
     
    “Hello, sweetie, Mommy’s home,” Alison said to Jeremy as she walked away, into the living room.
     
    Simon knew he couldn’t keep the truth a secret forever, and that this period of calm in his life was a last gasp that wouldn’t,
couldn’t
last forever. The tension was building, like a rubber band pulled to its extreme, and it was only a matter of time until everything went to hell all over again.
     
    A fter dinner, as per their routine lately, Simon let Alison have some alone time with Jeremy. She’d had mixed emotions about working full-time indefinitely, and though she’d adjusted to her role and claimed she was happy, Simon knew that she still felt bad about the situation, and he didn’t want her to feel like she was missing out.
    While Alison played with Jeremy in his room, Simon, feeling pent up, was dying to go for a long run in the park. But he’d been trying to resist his animalistic urges lately, so he did maybe a hundred push-ups to relieve at least some of his bottled-up energy, and then he went online on his laptop and did some job hunting.
     
    Although he knew that finding work was the least of his problems at the moment, and he doubted he was capable of starting a new job what with all the upheaval in his life lately, he