"Kenyon, Sherrilyn - Dark-Hunter 09 - Kiss of the Night" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kenyon Sherrilyn)

To date, none of them had ever met a Powdered Donut in the flesh. Still, they were ever hopeful.
Michelle tapped Brenda and Kat on their shoulders and inconspicuously pointed to the man she was eye-balling. "Cookie?"
Kat shook her head. "Cracker."
"Definitely Cracker," Brenda confirmed.
"Oh, what do you know? You have a steady boyfriend," Michelle said to Brenda as the band finished their song and took a break. "Jeez, you guys are tough critics."
Cassandra looked back at the guy, who was talking to his buddy and drinking a longneck beer. He didn't make her heart pound, but then very few men did. Even so, he had an easy, open manner and a nice, friendly smile. She could see why Michelle liked him.
"Why would you care what we think anyway?" she asked Michelle. "If you like him, then go up and introduce yourself."
Michelle was horrified. "I can't do that."
"Why not?" Cassandra asked.
"What if he thinks I'm fat or ugly?"
Cassandra rolled her eyes. Michelle was a very thin brunette who was a far cry from ugly. "Life is short, Michelle. Too short. For all you know, he might be the man of your dreams, but if you stay back here, drooling and not acting, you'll never know."
"God," Michelle breathed, "how I envy you that live-for-today attitude. But I can't."
Cassandra grabbed her by the hand and hauled her through the crowd, over to the man.
She tapped him on the shoulder.
Startled, he turned around.
His eyes widened as he looked up at Cassandra. At six feet one, she was used to being a freak of nature. To his credit, the guy didn't appear offended by the fact that she was a good two inches taller than him.
He looked down at Michelle, who was a normal five feet four.
"Hi," Cassandra said, drawing his gaze back to her. "I'm taking a quick survey. Are you married?"
He frowned. "No."
"Seeing someone?"
He passed a puzzled look to his friend. "No."
"Gay?"
His jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"
"Cassandra!" Michelle snapped.
She ignored both of them and held tight to Michelle's hand as her friend tried to run away. "You like women, yes?"
"Yes," he said, sounding offended.
"Good, because my friend Michelle here thinks you're exceptionally cute and she'd like to meet you." She pulled Michelle between them. "Michelle, this is..."
He smiled as he met Michelle's stunned gaze. "Tom Cody."
"Tom Cody," Cassandra repeated. "Tom, this is Michelle."
"Hi," he said, extending his hand to her.
From Michelle's expression, Cassandra could tell her friend wasn't sure if she should strangle her or thank her.
"Hi," Michelle said, shaking his hand.
Assured that they were semicompatible and that he didn't bite on the first date, Cassandra left them and headed back to Brenda and Kat, both of whom had their mouths hanging wide open as they stared at her in disbelief.
"I can't believe you just did that to her," Kat said as soon as Cassandra rejoined them. "She's going to kill you later."
Brenda cringed. "If you ever do that to me, I will kill you."
Kat draped an arm over Brenda's shoulders and gave her an affectionate hug. "You can yell at her all you want to, hon, but I can't let you kill her."
Brenda laughed at Kat's comment, not knowing that Kat spoke from her heart. She was Cassandra's covert bodyguard and had been with her for five years now. A record. Most of Cassandra's bodyguards had a job expectancy of about eight months.
They either ended up dead or quitting the minute they caught a look at exactly who and what was after her. To their way of thinking, not even the exorbitant amount of money her father paid them to keep her alive was worth the risk.
But not Kat. She had more tenacity and chutzpah than anyone Cassandra had ever met. Not to mention the fact that Kat was the only woman Cassandra had ever known who was actually taller than her. At six feet four, and stunningly beautiful, Kat made quite an entrance everywhere she went. Her blond hair hung just past her shoulders and she had eyes so green they didn't look real.
"You know," Brenda said to Cassandra as she watched Tom and Michelle talking and laughing. "I would give anything to have your confidence. Do you ever doubt yourself?"
Cassandra answered truthfully. "All the time."
"You never show it."
That's because, unlike her companions, there was more than just a slim chance Cassandra might only have another eight months left to live. She couldn't afford to be scared or timid of life. Her motto was to grab everything by both hands, and run with it.
Then again, she'd been running all her life. Running from those who would kill her if they had a chance.
But most of all, she'd been running from her destiny, hoping that somehow, some way, she could avert the inevitable.
Even though she'd traveled the world since she was six years old, she was no closer to discovering the truth about her heritage than her mother had been before her.
Still, with every day that dawned, she was hopeful. Hopeful that someone would tell her that her life didn't have to end on her twenty-seventh birthday. Hopeful that she would be able to stay someplace for more than a few months or even days.
"Hub-ba!" Brenda said, her eyes wide as she looked toward the entrance. "I think I just found our cookies! And ladies, there are three of them."
Laughing at her awed tone, Cassandra turned around to see three incredibly sexy men entering the club. They were all well over six feet in height, golden in skin and hair, and drop-dead gorgeous.
Her laughter died instantly as she felt a horrible, stinging tingle run through her. It was a sensation she was all too familiar with.