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)
“No? And why’s that, Piper?”
I could almost feel his hands on me, peeling back the layers.
Terrified to let him in, I tossed out the first ridiculous defense I could find. “Haven’t you heard it said not all who wander are lost?”
He came to a stop at the T at Vista View. His truck idled as he turned to peer over at me.
My insides roiled. A frenzy of fear and the need he incited.
I’d expected his expression might be amused.
Smug.
Cocky.
Only it was knowing.
Filled with a sincerity that it shouldn’t possess.
“But I think we both know you are lost, Piper, and maybe in all your wandering, you were supposed to find me.”
Emotion rushed, and I forced myself to keep my attention focused out the windshield. If I looked at him, I would completely crack.
My teeth ground as I tried to fight the moisture that burned at the backs of my eyes.
“I don’t have any space inside me for any more breaking, Theo.”
We both knew that’s exactly what would happen. There was something too volatile between us for it to amount to anything else.
And with whatever was coming off him right then—a brawl of grief and anguish and the unfound need that I could feel seeping from his spirit—I didn’t think he could take any more breaking, either.
He made the right, and silence took us over as he drove along the side of the lake.
The night was heavy, and a gibbous moon hung over the glittering waters and whispered through the spikes of the trees that stretched for the heavens.
The neon sign that said The Sanctuary glowed in the distance.
The setting was so gorgeous that I could hardly breathe.
Or maybe Theo Mallin was the entire reason that I couldn’t press the oxygen from my lungs, my chest screaming as he made the left onto the long drive that followed the winding path to the motel.
He slowed as he eased through, driving along the far side of the parking lot and onto the narrow lane that led to the two small cabins at the edge of the property.
He came to a stop in the little round drive and put the truck into park.
I started to tell him Thank you for the ride, but he was already out and rounding to my side. Pulling the door open, he extended his hand.
I hesitated, knowing I shouldn’t take it.
I needed to create as much distance between us as I could, but I was warily accepting it and allowing him to help me down from the truck.
My boots hit the ground, and I exhaled a staggered breath and tried to find my footing.
He stepped back, making a small opening for me to pass, though I felt his presence cover me from behind as I moved up the walkway.
The man was right there.
A shroud of darkness that consumed me whole.
Arms crossed over my chest, I stepped onto the porch and moved for the door, and I fumbled into my small purse to get the keycard and pressed it to the reader.
The lock buzzed and gave, and my hand went for the handle, though I froze when his nose was suddenly pressed into my hair.
His words were a rough scrape at the shell of my ear.
“I don’t want to break you, Piper. I want to please you. Pleasure you in every way. Put back together whatever’s been broken. Take that pain from your eyes and rewrite myself on you instead.”
Shock pitched from my lungs, and I spun around, my upper back fused to the door that clicked shut.
He stared down at me with those eyes.
A black sea lit in the moonlight.
“I don’t understand it, what it is you’re doing to me.” He dropped his forehead to mine, and the words he expelled were choked. “Feel like I might die if I don’t kiss you. Die if I don’t get to touch you.”
Our chests heaved and the tension bound as we toiled in the hesitation.
“Tell me to walk away from you,” he pleaded.
The front of his jacket was open, and my hands slipped through to fist in his tee shirt. “I don’t know how.”
“Piper.” My name was nothing but a moan, and he warred again, his entire being pressed against mine.
Our mouths hovered an inch apart as our spirits gripped and grasped.
Theo edged back for a beat, and his gaze flashed with desperation. Or maybe I was only seeing what was reflected in my own, because one second later, he dipped in and swept his lips over mine.
His heart pounded against my chest as he pressed in close, and he planted both his hands over my head as he leaned down to deepen the kiss.
His mouth slanted over mine, and our tongues tangled as they met.
A pulsing beat as he licked long and slow, shifting different directions with each ardent pass.
Angling back and forth.