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As she re-fored withacross the table of papers, his eyes burning, his body sending off its scent of arousal Life could change in a e of however hts and days you had?

Time wasn’t so oing to die, she herself would have made different choices On that theory, if she knew she had a week left, or s ith a male, even if he was just a human?

Troy had her number And she had his How did this work? They texted occasionally, but only about scheduling things

A date was a "thing" to be scheduled, though, right?

Walking in the grand front door, she started trying out conversations in her head, ways of greeting and following up on--

"Where have you been!"

Elise froze And realized as she saw a grandfather clock and a set of stairs that was right out of Buckingham Palace that she had seriously screwed up: She’d coht past the open door to her father’s study

With her coat on, and snowflakes in her hair, and her backpack on her shoulder

"Elise!"

Through the open door, her father had stood up from behind his carved desk, his shock and horror h his mansion

And actually, his pale face, his peeled-wide eyes, and his ruffled evening coat ht have been funny Under other circumstances

With a curse, Elise closed her lids and braced herself for the onslaught

TWO

THE BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD MANSION

"So what is that?"

As Rhage’s daughter piped up, he froze with his gun halfway into his under-arm holster For a split second, he decided to pretend that he hadn’t heard her--but that was going to get him nowhere In the two months or so that he and Mary had had Bitty, they’d both learned that she was sot a kick out of those two defining characteristics When it ca the technical specs of a forty-caliber killing weapon to his thirteen-year-old? Pass He wished she had an elanced into the ainst hope that she hadon his and Mary’s new bed, the one in the third-floor suite that Trez had graciouslyrooirl ay on the s that made him want to -Fucking-Cold Hell, even under a body weight’s worth of fleece, she seeht there Her brown eyes were direct as an adult’s, old as a le’s Her dark hair was thick and shiny, falling past her shoulders, nearly the exact color of Mary’s And her aura, her … whatever, life force, spirit, soul … was as tangible as her physical form seemed aler she stayed with the Not like a flower

Like a fucking oak