WILD SHORT READS - PARANORMAL ROMANCE FLASH FICTION

RECLUSE

I sat in my car blasting heat at my thighs. The indecently short skirt of my sexy Halloween costume barely covered my ass, leaving me hopelessly exposed to the aching cold until my lower legs were gratefully encased in knee-high pleather boots.

Squeaky wipers labored leaving slushy trails on my windshield. The woods creaked forlornly. I glared at the dilapidated mansion crouched like a gargoyle overlooking town. The townsfolk had always been superstitious of this place but I'd been drawn here as a kid. Desperate to uncover the forbidding mansion's secrets...and steal a look at the infamous, reclusive author who owned it. Yet I'd never dared knock on that door.

Until now, I growled.

Yeah, it wasn't just the house I was hopelessly drawn to. As soon as a new book came out, I'd snatch a copy and devour it. Imagining each line dribbled into my ear in a smoky growl I could almost but not quite remember.

Oh god, I've reached Kathy Bates status. Why am I even here?!

Clearly the brilliant recluse didn't want visitors. The overgrown rose bushes lashing the entryway said as much. Plus he was probably in his fifties by now while I was rolling out of my late twenties with nothing to show for it but an arm-flapping mess.

The embossed invitation winked innocently from the passenger seat. My boss—and former BFF—had insisted I deliver it. So far I'd chickened out no less than fifteen times. In ten days. You do the math. But tonight was the night. The party was on, the decorations were set, and I was about to deliver the shit out of that sucker.

Dressed in a sexy wolf costume.

I grabbed the damn invitation and marched up to that brass knocker but the door swung open as if the inhabitant had been waiting for me to woman up.

"Eliza?"

I gasped. Hearing my name spoken with such dark playfulness from his lips almost undid me.

No one—famous or not—had the right to look like he'd been chiseled from earth-rich marble. With devilish lips, sparkling emerald eyes and a dark complexion enhanced by the opulent cherry-red woods and over-stuffed furniture of his foyer, there was nothing dilapidated about this chic man. He wore a fitted, baby-blue button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal dark corded forearms. Designer trousers hugged slender hips, ass and thighs to perfection.

From somewhere inside the house, a very special bookish room called to my soul.

"I wasn't expecting a visitor on such an inhospitable night," he murmured in a smoky growl. He took in my curvy figure with a sharp smile that should've terrified me but only caused delight. "And certainly not in such delectable attire."

Dear god. I knew that voice. It was the growl I'd always imagined reading my favorite passages of L. H. Higgins. I narrowed my eyes on the sexy recluse who didn't look a day over thirty as a sinking sensation overtook me, pushing back the dark curling fog of influence from my mind.

"You—did—something to me."

His smirk was back as he challenged me with a dark gaze. Urging me to go deeper. To remember. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Eliza?"

"You're invited to a party," I growled.

Slamming the envelop to his chest, I stalked inside letting my feet take me where they wanted to go. I soon found the beautiful study which felt like home. Volumes of books were stuffed into bookshelves lining the walls and an armchair—one I had curled up in many times before—sat patiently awaiting my return in front of a merry fireplace.

The man, no, vampire—holy shit, L. H. Higgins was a vampire?!—followed me into the room. I could feel his need to cross the divide. Instead, he poured scotch into a tumbler and offered it to me with a gallant smile. I knocked it back and glared at him.

"You've come for me?" he prompted.

Taking the glass from my hand, he invaded my space, pressing his lean musculature against my over-heated curves.

God. I'm burning up.

Now that the fog had lifted, my world felt like it was on fire. Every cell was combusting in response to his proximity. "What did you do to me?"

He dropped a chaste kiss to my lips which quickly turned into something else. He tasted of dreams long forgotten. Of strawberries and desire. Of a need so iron-deep it made my eyes water. He separated from me with a groan, fisting hands in his long black curls.

"Eliza, my love, forgive me. I was beginning to think you'd never make it back."

"Why?" I grit out, cold as ice. "Why did you force me to forget you? Us?"

"Oh my sweet, beautiful girl. I couldn't—you were too young—you had a life to lead and I could only drag you beneath the waves."

Desire stirred my rage into a tornado. I closed the gap between us and socked him one on that perfect jaw. It felt like I'd driven my fist into a wall.

"I'd do it again," he added, carefully taking hold of my hand and pressing a kiss of remorse to its surface. His eyes held no malice, only heartbreak. "You were a child. Who'd suddenly grown up into a young woman."

I winced, remembering the hormones that'd been messing with my teenage mind. He was right, I'd been horny as fuck. But he was also wrong. It had been so much more than a childish crush.

"Perhaps I panicked. I needed to know that when—if—you came back then you would be mine. Forever."

He licked those sinful lips, awaiting my judgement.

"Promise me," I growled, jumping into his arms and wrapping my legs around his waist like a vice. Dragging him into a ruthless, punishing kiss.

"Anything, Eliza," he moaned.

"Promise me that you will never mess with my mind again."

"You have my word," he replied solemnly.

"Good. Now kiss me, vampire, until I can't remember your stupid selfless choices."