Curiosity

Curiosity

By

Marie Rochelle

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Curiosity

Copyright© 2012 Marie Rochelle

ISBN:  978-1-60088-753-6

Cover Artist:  Sable Grey

Editor:  Leanne Salter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

Cobblestone Press, LLC

www.cobblestone-press.com

Dedication

To the Bells.

I’m going to miss all of you.

Marie

Chapter One

He’s home!

Krishell Tynan jumped up off the couch and rushed over to her own front door the second she heard the familiar jangle of her sexy neighbor’s keys in the hallway. Standing on her tiptoes, she peeked through the peephole, catching a glimpse the back of Devin Diamont’s towering six-foot-six-inch frame as he sauntered into his apartment.

She bit back her groan of frustration as he closed the door behind him. How could her plan ever work to seduce him if she wasn’t able to catch him before he disappeared inside his condo?

If she were a paranoid woman, she might start to believe Devin deliberately avoided her. That couldn’t be case, however, because she hadn’t spoken to Devin since their first encounter inside the elevator a few weeks back.

Easing her condo door open, she stared longingly across the hall toward Devin’s condo. This was the final straw. Her mind was made up. She wasn’t going to back down. Tomorrow would be the night, she vowed, come hell or high water, to get her neighbor’s attention.

Her curiosity about him was in overdrive, which meant she wouldn’t let it go until she got what she wanted, and that was
Devin Diamont.

* * * * *

Stepping away from his door, Devin wondered how much longer he could pretend he didn’t notice Krishell. She tried to get his attention every time she saw him. She would be better off just leaving him alone, but for some odd reason, she was bound and more than determined to find a variety of ways to drive him crazy.

Every day, he fought down the urge to throw her against the nearest wall and do everything his body craved.

Shit, he’d even made a point of changing his work hours to put needed distance between them. Yet, every night when he came home, Devin still felt Krishell’s presence behind her closed door, beckoning him to come over there.

When would she finally comprehend she didn’t need to try so hard to tease him? She already had his undivided attention. How did he tell her that she drew his desire years before their first meeting inside the elevator? She was
his
. He’d left his home and came here to claim her as his mate.

Devin pushed aside drawings he brought home from work yesterday and picked up the black and white photo of Krishell from his cluttered desk. His father had given him the photograph years before he met Krishell in person and had explained how the woman in it was destined to be with him.

Devin had asked his father numerous times how he knew about Krishell and how he got this picture of her, but his father could be stubborn and tightlipped when he wanted to be. This was one of those times. Devin never got any more information out of him about Krishell.

The urge to find her and make her his had torn at Devin. Yet, his father had insisted he should wait because
satisfaction
was fast approaching, and it wouldn’t be the best time to make his presence known to her.

Like a good son, he’d tried to wait until
satisfaction
was over, but the burning need to see her outweighed any common sense. What vampire wouldn’t want to mark his mate before another male did, especially a human one? He wasn’t about to sit back and allow that to happen. The impulse to find her and turn her was
white hot
.

So, he’d packed a suitcase and left word for his father as to his whereabouts and moved here to Ariel, Kansas. For weeks after moving into the same building, in a condo across the hall from Krishell, he’d tried to find ways to run into her.

Nothing had worked in his favor, and just as he was about to give up hope and head back home a defeated vampire, the elevator door opened and there stood his stunning mate looking
sizzling hot
. So gorgeous he almost tossed her over his shoulder right there and carried her back to his place. She was wearing a short, denim skirt and tight, ocean-blue T-shirt that displayed her firm breasts to perfection. Her black hair fell to her shoulders in a tumbled mess as if she’d just gotten out of bed after a night of wild sex.

Devin would never forget how the fabric stretched across her full, tempting chest, making his mouth water for a little taste of them. Her smooth, mahogany skin practically taunted him to reach out and run his fingers down her bare arm to see if she felt like silk or satin.

“Fuck!” The cursed flew from his mouth as his fangs started to descend from his gums.

As much as he hated to admit it, his father was right about staying away from Krishell a while longer. He shouldn’t have come here until he had better control over himself. She didn’t have any idea who or what he was, and she definitely didn’t know her true connection to him.

Devin couldn’t let her get near him…
not
while his impulses were so intense. She had no clue how long he had been searching for her. She didn’t have to do anything at all to make him wild for her. His yearning was already there in his body, pumping through his veins.

This was one of the main reasons he made it a point of finding different techniques to steer clear of her no matter how much his body pushed him to do the opposite. He’d defied his father to find her, but now he did everything he could to stay away from her.

After the near miss in the elevator, Devin learned rather swiftly what little control he had over his needs.

Running his fingers through his thick hair, he prayed Krishell stayed away from him for one more day. The last day of
satisfaction
was the worst:
the one day in a vampire’s life were all he wanted to do was find his chosen woman and declare her as his other half.

His blood would be the hottest and his deepest desire would want to be fed until it was fulfilled. With everything in him, Devin knew he wouldn’t be able to stop until he made Krishell his forever. The hardest part would be convincing Krishell they belong together for a lifetime.

No matter how badly the dark hold of
satisfaction
pushed him, he couldn’t allow himself to lose control the way he longed to, because he sensed innocence about her.

Her virtuousness was a wonderful quality that he didn’t want a hand in destroying by moving too fast with her. He would fight this as long as he could, but the sight and smell of her were pushing him to limits he had never before encountered.

Chapter Two

Krishell stood outside Devin’s door the following night, determined to get him to notice her. The time for games was over. She tugged at the hem of her short black skirt and then worked on pulling her shirt off her left shoulder a tiny bit more.

Her best friend Ashlynn had taken her shopping for this outfit, swearing that any man who saw her in it would want to toss her over his shoulder and carry her off to bed for the rest of the night. Krishell hoped Ashlynn knew what she was talking about.

She wanted Devin’s eyes to pop of his head when he opened the door and saw her standing there. She didn’t know what it was about her neighbor that made her act like this. She’d never gone after any other man this hard in the past. Actually, she was usually quite shy and nervous around good-looking men like Devin.

Yet, when she first laid eyes on him, it was as if there was this invisible bond pulling her toward him. No matter how she tried to fight it, the connection was still there, shoving and pushing her not to give up on getting him.