Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Tongue hot against mine. Lips both desperate and sweet.
His breaths raked between the nips and pulls as he walked with me in his arms down a hall.
“Theo,” I muttered into the frenzy, and I rubbed myself against the hard, rigid planes of his abdomen and chest.
I wanted to touch him everywhere at the same time. The same way as I wanted him to touch me.
Frantic, I pulled back enough to wind myself out of my jacket and toss it to the floor, then my fingers sank right back into the nape of his neck as I poured myself into him.
A long groan rolled up his throat. “Piper. Can’t believe it’s come to this.”
Lightheadedness swept through me, like I might be floating, though I didn’t think I’d ever felt more grounded than this.
The questions squashed. The fear obliterated.
“Nothing has ever felt so right,” I murmured at his lips.
He kept kissing me wild as the hall opened to a massive great room.
I pulled away to take in his home.
The ceiling was pitched and two stories high. The beams made of rustic woods and everything accented in raw stone. So different than the worn black leathers of the man, but somehow they were fitting.
Like he’d etched himself into this place.
The Sanctuary.
This refuge he gave his entire life to.
It was similar to the cabin where we were staying but at least three times the size. A giant stone fireplace sat in the middle of the far wall. There were windows on each side of it, and one side led out to a porch that overhung the lake.
Completely awe-striking.
But it was the man who’d stolen my breath.
The one who’d stolen my heart.
And I knew after today there would be no getting any of myself back.
He flicked a switch on the wall and the fireplace jumped to life, flames licking from the hearth and adding a glow to the dim, late afternoon light that flooded into the space.
“Don’t bring anyone here, Piper.” His words were gravel as he spoke, and I returned my full attention to him.
To this gloriously foreboding man who held me like a treasure.
“This is my own haven. The barest amount of peace that I have, even though I still can never find much of it. But you…you belong in the middle of it. A balm. Respite. A cure.”
His strong brow pinched when he said the last, inflicted by the idea that he could be healed the way he was healing me.
I dragged my fingertips down his cheek, and my voice was held in a whisper. “Maybe we’re supposed to mend each other. Maybe all our broken pieces fit.”
A clash of grief and greed flashed across his face, and he started to walk again, moving through the great room. He bypassed the gorgeous kitchen and wound around the oversized furniture before he knelt so he could lay me down in the middle of a plush, fluffy rug in front of the fireplace.
He peeled himself out of his leather jacket, then crawled the rest of the way over me. He remained on his knees as he planted his hands on either side of my head.
Energy lapped in the small space that separated us.
A glow that whispered and whisked across our flesh.
A call of our spirits that were finally being heard.
A soft grin rippled over Theo’s mouth. “The first night I found you, I sat right in front of this fireplace thinking about the way I wanted to strip you out of your clothes and watch the flames dance across your pale skin. Way I wanted to peel you apart and put you back together.”
“Is that your plan?” It was a shaky tease.
“Oh, I have all kinds of plans for you, Piper Whittman.”
“Then you’d better get started.”
“Guess I’d better. Wouldn’t want to earn another one star.”
Lightness weaved with the intensity that blazed between us.
He took the hem of my sweater and pulled it over my head.
He sat back on his knees, and my chest gripped at the sight of him.
Pinks and reds and the deepest blues filtered in through the enormous windows as they reflected off the glittering waters of the lake just outside.
It cast him in a chaotic rainbow as he knelt between my legs.
A fortress.
A tower of steel and fortitude.
A canvas of loss and horror, though his spirit whispered of the same hope that had tremored within me for so long.
In sorrow we must stand.
Theo had stood for so many, and now, I wanted to stand for him.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, Theo Mallin. All of you,” I whispered.
It was admission.
Acceptance.
Surrender.
A hint of that arrogance kicked at the edge of his mouth, his voice rough and scraping, though there was no missing the tenderness that adorned it. “You clearly don’t have the view I have right now.”
He reached out and dragged his fingers from my chin and down my trembling neck until he was brushing them over my breasts that strained beneath the lace of my bra.