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)
The last time she laughed so much.
The last time she felt so free.
She had a clear path set out for her life. Her hopes and dreams right within reach. It was going to be a ton of hard work. She was told her second year would be the most challenging and she wasn’t daunted by the prospect, but for this summer, she was letting all that pressure go.
She was going to enjoy every single second that she had.
Whether she was with her family or her friends.
Her senses prickled as she moved. A shiver of interest that had her looking up, gaze roaming through the crowd for the source.
A man was watching her from where he sipped at a whiskey from a high-top table with a couple other guys.
He was twenty-four or twenty-five, she guessed.
His light brown eyes roved over her, and she didn’t look away as she swiveled her hips, her stomach tightening in attraction as she took him in.
He appeared cool and casual where he sat rocked back in the stool.
Powerful, maybe.
Wearing a black button-down with the sleeves rolled up. Tattoos covered the exposed skin of his arms.
He was hewn in the type of danger that she knew she shouldn’t be attracted to.
She’d always been, though.
She almost rolled her eyes at herself.
She’d only been with one guy. Her high school boyfriend who was both boring and sweet.
But she always liked to look.
Every fantasy she had was of a guy like this. One who was rough and demanding.
Too bad she’d always been the good girl who was never brave enough to dip her toe into that type of hazard.
Because that’s what he was written in.
Hazard and peril.
Eva danced out in front of her, and she turned around and got in the line of her sight. She barely mouthed over the din, “Oh my God, that guy is so eye-fucking you. He is wicked hot.”
Eva peeked back at him while Piper had yet to be able to look away.
Eva turned back. A bit of worry creased the sides of her black-rimmed eyes. “But he looks like a load of trouble.”
Nerves tumbled in Piper’s belly. A warning that she should turn around.
Leave.
Maybe run.
She didn’t know what came over her because she swallowed it down, and the words were tumbling off her lips at the same moment the guy stood from his chair and started in her direction.
“Maybe a little trouble is exactly what I need this summer.”
TWENTY-THREE
THEO
My eyes flew open to the lapping night.
Darkness all around and Piper in my arms.
Her soft breaths were panted against my chest as she remained lost to sleep.
With my mind spinning, I tried to orient myself, and I squinted as I shifted enough so I could see the clock that glowed from the nightstand.
5:02
Fuck.
Had I really slept until five a.m.?
Soundly and without waking?
I ignored the whole onslaught of thoughts, refusing to evaluate how it was even possible, since I was realizing quickly there had been something that had actually pulled me from sleep and it wasn’t just the typical nightmare that had me jolting awake.
No.
This was a sound or a movement, or maybe it was just intuition.
The turbulence that vibrated through my insides and had me carefully untangling myself from Piper and easing off the side of the bed.
A very reckless part of me wanted to climb right back beside her and never let go.
Find a way to bind myself to her permanently.
And I didn’t know why.
Didn’t know why this one woman who I’d found stranded in the snow could hold such a power over me.
This feeling like…I belonged.
Not as a penance.
Not as an atonement.
But because she felt like a gift.
I gritted my teeth against the reckless thoughts that were invading and quietly slipped back into my clothes and jacket. I left the laces of my boots untied as I tiptoed to her bedroom door. I carefully opened it, being sure not to disturb her as I pushed my head out so I could listen.
Stillness echoed back, but there was still something in the air that had me silently edging down the steps and to the front door.
Guarded, I opened it and let my attention sweep the area out front of her cabin.
Snow was falling again, not quite a blizzard like last weekend, but it was still coming down thick.
Cold wind lashed through the trees, and I braced myself against the frigidness as I stepped out and crossed her porch.
The darkened sky sagged low, the heavy clouds so close it felt like I could reach out and touch them.
In it, I swore that I could taste the ominous.
Something not quite right.
Ducking through the storm, I ran for my truck, clicking the locks before I unlatched the back door and swung it open so I could grab the flashlight where I kept it on the floorboards.
Spurred by the disorder that thrashed in my soul, I flicked it on.