Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Her pale features angelic and soft, cheeks chubby with the cutest dimple in the middle of her chin.
“Auntie, look it!” She sat back on her knees and grabbed her stack of matches and held them high. “I got so many cards. I really do think I’m extra smart.”
“Wow. You did get so many,” I murmured as I slowly eased their direction, voice rough as I struggled to speak. “You’re putting your poor grammy to shame.”
“No way, Auntie. Grammy’s got no shame, don’t you worry. She’s the best grammy I got.”
My gaze slanted to my mother.
“She’s pretty amazing,” I whispered.
Mom’s head tilted to the side. “And her auntie’s pretty amazing, too. So strong and wise.”
Ha.
Wise.
I wish I would have been last night.
“That’s right, she’s very pretty. Just like my mommy,” Maci rambled as she went on the hunt for another card.
Another stake to the heart.
I inhaled around it, getting myself together enough to speak. “I think I’m going to go get some fresh air.”
Worry twisted Mom’s brow. “Do you want us to come with you?”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
I needed the quiet. The solitude. Some privacy to figure out what in the world I was supposed to do.
“Okay then.” It wasn’t quite an agreement, and before she could argue any more, I moved to Maci and dipped down to press a kiss to the crown of her head then slipped out the door.
It clanged shut behind me, and the second I hit the hallway, I rushed toward the elevator. Once I got there, I smacked the button, willing it to hurry. I watched the dial as it climbed, then blew out a breath when it swept open and there was no one inside.
I stepped in and pushed the one for the lobby, and my entire body vibrated as I waited for it to descend.
Feet itching with tormented energy.
I was almost ready to run when it came to a stop at the bottom and the bell dinged as the doors swept open.
Only I startled when a crash of energy suddenly banged against me when someone stepped into the elevator before I could escape it.
A riptide of severity.
The man ridiculously tall and wide.
Muscled body hard and packed.
Rippling with that intimidating strength that radiated from him like an omen.
Covered in swirling designs that crawled down his veined arms and onto the backs of his big, big hands.
Light brown hair, short on the sides and longer on top.
As I stood there, I realized he was far more intimidating than I remembered.
His aura fierce.
Feral and untamed.
Caught in the shock at finding him there, the only thing I could do was stumble back at the power of it, gasping for breath as I leaned against the mirrored back wall of the elevator.
In one instant, his expression morphed through a thousand things.
Surprise and a charge of relief. Possession and confusion and a steely determination that knocked my knees.
The worst was the scourge of lust that scraped over my flesh as his eyes flashed over me.
I needed to dart around him. Get out of this elevator.
Run.
Freaking do something.
But I was stuck. Pinned to the wall as he pushed all the way into the elevator, blocking my path.
A rugged refuge that towered.
Or maybe he really was the dragon.
There to fly me away to his dungeon where I’d be trapped.
Everything about him muddled my senses.
Because I should have screamed and fought my way out when he reached over to the panel and pressed the button that sent the doors gliding shut behind him, but I was silent.
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.
He pushed a second button for the top floor.
Severity ricocheted through the cramped space as the elevator began to ascend. A rush of dizziness had me canting to the side, fingers digging into the slick surface of the mirror to keep myself standing.
“What are you doing here?” I finally managed to rasp, the words thin and shaky.
He emitted a sound of disbelief.
Dark and decadent.
As dark and decadent as his voice. “Guess we must be on the same page considering I came here to ask you the exact same thing.”
He took a single step forward. The floor rumbled beneath my feet.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I defended.
The elevator kept rising, flicking through the lights on the panel. When we were near the top, he reached out and pounded the heel of his fist on the red emergency button.
The elevator skidded to a halt, and an alarm blipped for one second before everything went still and silent.
The only sound was the harsh rake of my breaths and the hemorrhaging of my heart.
It felt as if my lifeblood was pouring out and gushing onto the floor.
The presence of this man a fatal blow.
He turned back to me, his obscenely handsome face warped in a cross of incredulity and sincerity.
“Don’t you?”