The Silverwing's Sorceress: THe Shadow Slayers, Book 2.5 Read Online Free

items from his hand and immediately carrying them to the sink to begin washing the fragments of eggshell and grime from them. “Well, I can’t make a call from this carrot, but at least we’ll be eating something that didn’t come from a can.”
    “You didn’t find a phone?”
    “No. No landlines, and I’m not sure my cell would have worked here anyhow. Service was already getting spotty halfway up the mountain range.”
    “Should we try the neighbors?”
    “Absolutely—if we had neighbors to try. One of the reasons my dad loved this place was because no one else lived around here.”
    “Yet you have electricity…”
    “From a special generator. It’s powered by the energy of the mountain, and I’m glad it’s still running. My dad never taught me the spell to work it.”
    “They use a similar generator on Mercury Island, but that isn’t my area of expertise.” He took the carrots and began washing them beside her. When his knuckles grazed hers, she froze.
    His heart squeezed when he felt her pull away, but then she must have realized what she’d done, because she smiled and patted his hand. “I hope you didn’t misunderstand me earlier about the whole sharing-a-bedroom thing.”
    His gaze met hers. He knew her so well, she didn’t need to speak for him to read the discomfort there. Still, he needed to hear the words. “Oh? In what way?”
    “You thinking I’m trying to get rid of you or something. It’s just that I thought you might like to stretch out for once.”
    He finished with the bunch of carrots and set them aside. “Don’t, Abbey. I deserve better than your trying to placate me. If I could take back what happened last night…” He stopped short of saying he would, because that would have been a lie.
    “So…we kissed. Big deal. It happened, and it won’t happen again. Can we please just let it go and move on?”
    “Move on…” He was a fool, but he’d expected more compassion from her. It wasn’t as if he’d planned it.
    No, he’d been a flaming saint right up until they’d returned home to an empty apartment and sat on the couch, like they’d done so many times before. A playful argument over the remote had led to grappling, and grappling had led to a heated look, and the heated look had led to the most amazing kiss of his life. He wasn’t sure what made him do it, but when he’d kissed her, there was no doubt Abbey had kissed him back.
    Her body had been so incredibly responsive as she’d straddled his lap and wrapped her small hands behind his head. He still wondered where it would have led if their roommate, Kara, and Abbey’s ex, Tray, hadn’t walked in on them and blown it all to hell. With her arms wrapped tightly around her ribs and a look of distrust in her eyes, Abbey had come crashing to her senses…and Jaxon wasn’t sure his body would survive the impact.
    She filled her lungs and blew out a deep breath. “See? Easy. Moving on. Now where are the bowls?”
    He wasn’t going to argue with her. She didn’t want more from him, no matter what her kisses said. “I would never pressure you into something you weren’t ready for.”
    “Oh, right. Like you’ve ever pressured me.”
    Her strange look and fluttery fingers confused him. He settled his hand over hers to calm her. “Think nothing more about it. It’s been a long night, and I’ll sleep well enough in the room across from yours.”
     
     
    He proved himself a liar.
    They ate dinner and changed for bed. Abbey took one of his shirts to wear as a nightgown until she could wash the overwhelming fragrance from her own clothing.
    And now he lay in the large, empty bed, staring across the hall at Abbey’s open door for what felt like hours, pondering whether or not it was even safe to leave her unguarded…
    No, he finally decided. Absolutely not.
    Jaxon walked into the master bedroom on silent feet. He would prove to her that he could control himself—that he wasn’t a rutting bull she needed to