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)
“What are you doing out here?” The words were rusty.
A stir of anxiety rolled through me. How was I supposed to admit my intentions to him when I could barely admit them to myself?
“I…I’m heading out to run a few errands.”
His brows lifted, the contours of his rugged face flexing in what could only be construed as frustration. “Why didn’t you text me if you needed something?”
“Because while you might have missed it, I am capable of handling a few things on my own.”
I couldn’t help the sass from coming out. Not when he set me on edge and soothed me at the same time.
He rocked back on his heels, expression taking on a tone like he’d caught me committing a heinous act. “And what, you called a car instead of asking me to give you a ride?”
“Again, I’m capable of handling things.” My eyes narrowed. “Don’t you have a job to do around here or something?”
He stole forward, tattooed fingers roughing through the midnight locks of his hair, the man a shadow who came to stand over me. “My job is to take care of you while you’re here.”
“Is it?” I lifted my chin, fighting for any defense I could find. Because there was something about this man who made me want to surrender them.
He slipped closer—so close that I could feel the heat radiating from his flesh.
A rush of dizziness slammed me.
Senses filled with the aura of mossy woods and warm leather and that unmistakable insinuation of sex.
His words turned to grit. “You’re right, Piper. It shouldn’t be. I shouldn’t be thinking of you every second of the day and every long moment of the night. But there you always are, in the periphery of my sight.”
My pulse sped, and I tried to inhale a steadying breath.
The only thing I achieved was swilling the potency of the man.
“You shouldn’t think about me that way.”
He inched closer still. “No, I shouldn’t, should I? But knowing it doesn’t seem to change a damn thing.”
Attraction pounded.
A vibration that rippled and shook and nearly threw me off the path I needed to take. A stumble that would toss me straight into this man’s arms.
This man who I knew would absolutely devastate me.
The loneliness that ached inside promised that he would. I knew it with the way I wanted to be filled and touched and seen.
My spirit longing for something real.
Theo growled. “You shouldn’t be looking at me like that.”
“What am I looking at you like?” It came out raspy. A treacherous plea that begged me to betray every promise I’d made to myself.
His tongue stroked out to wet his plush bottom lip, his voice a rough caress that crawled across my flesh like the promise of what was to come. “Like you want me to take you back to my cabin and show you exactly what I’ve been fantasizing about.”
“That’s the last thing I want.” I barely managed it.
The man had the audacity to grin. “Little Liar.”
I finally jerked myself out of the stupor when a car pulled around the curved drive and stopped in front of us.
My heart rattled in my chest as I tore myself away, forcing out, “I have to go,” before I basically stumbled on unsteady feet toward the waiting car.
Head down, I opened the back passenger door, trying not to look back at Theo so he wouldn’t see how affected I was.
Only I could feel that dark gaze burning into me.
Eating me up.
Powerless, I looked that way.
He’d gone back to grinding his jaw, worry replacing the lust he’d been emitting a moment before. “You need me, Pipes, you call.”
I only gave him a slight nod before I jumped into the backseat of the car and slammed the door closed.
Knowing he was absolutely the last thing I needed and the one thing I’d come to want most.
Ten minutes later, the car pulled to the curb on 9th Street in the busier part of Moonlit Ridge.
I mumbled, “Thank you,” as I opened the door and climbed out, and I inhaled a deep breath as I climbed onto the sidewalk.
Cold pressed in, and while the snow had begun to melt, it still clung to the awnings that jutted out over the cute storefronts that lined the street, and piles of it were pushed up against the sidewalk from the snowplow.
Even though it was afternoon, the white lights that had been strung from the eaves and windows for the holidays glittered and danced below the sun that sat directly above.
Every horizon was kissed in a bright, blinding blue.
The sky endless.
Like a promise that there were no barriers.
An urging that I didn’t have to live within the fortified walls that I’d erected for our life.
I just prayed I wasn’t being a fool trusting in it.
Nerves scattered as I glanced at the sign above the store.