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)
Emotion swelled.
A swill of hope that bashed against the barrier of fear.
Battering and beating against the stones that surrounded my heart.
Theo pulled back on the throttle and revved the powerful engine.
The reverberation hit me like a call.
“Only girl sitting on the back of my bike is mine.”
And that surge broke through, and I was gasping as realization slammed me.
A flood rushing in to fill every gap and crevice. A soothing against the bitter ache.
“Go,” Emery wheezed, smiling wide as she tossed me my jacket and purse. I didn’t know when she’d grabbed them, but I was laughing an addled sound as I shrugged into it.
My knees weak and everything else light as I fumbled for the front of the store and pushed out the door.
Cold lashed across my face as I stumbled out into the winter chill, though I blundered to a standstill the second my feet hit the wood planks below.
Taken.
Held.
The afternoon sun had just begun to sag to the west.
It sent rays scattering around Theo.
Setting his silhouette ablaze.
The man a blackened sun.
Pure gravity.
His strong jaw clenched as he watched me with those dark, dark eyes that seared me through.
Black flames that crackled and lapped.
The man was pure intimidation. A painting of dark provocation.
His world one of volatility and crime.
Of violence and bloodshed. But it was also one that offered respite to the poor. Safety to the vulnerable.
And I knew as we stared each other down that he’d shown me who he really was.
And all the armor and shields I’d erected crashed to my feet. A tearing away of the barriers and the fear. A breaking of the promise that I would live this life alone because it was the only way we could survive it.
His own pain and grief and barricades were toppled.
All of it sat as rubble between us.
And maybe I’d never been more reckless, but I didn’t care.
I moved, my spirit soaring as I rushed across the distance separating us and swung my leg over his bike.
I wrapped my trembling arms around his waist and plastered myself against him.
Our breaths heaved out at the same time, and energy cracked and whipped at the connection.
A bond encircling us to make us complete.
Then Theo pulled out onto the street.
FORTY-ONE
THEO
I didn’t think I’d ever felt so much relief than having Piper’s arms wrapped around me. The thrashing beat of her heart battering at my back as she held on tight as I rode us in the direction of The Sanctuary.
The loud roar of my bike filled our ears, and the frigid air whirred around us.
Her breaths invaded my senses and that sweet spirit wound into every recess of my being.
Every stone inside me had been cracked wide open when she’d climbed onto the back of my bike.
There was no feeling like it.
Nothing to measure this emotion against.
I kept a careful pace as I made the right onto Vista View then took the left onto the long drive that wound toward the motel.
I didn’t head to her cabin.
I took the short path that snaked back to where my cabin was hidden in the trees.
Slowing, I dug my phone from my jacket pocket and pushed the button that lifted the garage door, then I eased my bike beside my truck.
I immediately lowered the garage door behind us.
Dimness filtered through the confined space.
I took her trembling hand and guided her off my bike.
My eyes were pinned on her standing next to me.
White hair whipped into disorder and raining around her like a chaotic halo.
Arctic eyes blue torches that flamed.
But it was the trust—the knowing—that zipped through the linking of our hands that nearly sent me into mayhem.
Guilt threatened to rise, but I pushed it back down, no place for it when Piper Whittman had overtaken everything.
Chest stretching tight, I swung off my bike and came to tower over her.
This woman who had barged her way into the places I thought I couldn’t allow her to go.
And now, it felt like she was purposed to be there. Like those vacant holes inside me had been carved in the shape of her.
“Are you afraid of me?” The question raked from my throat.
Raw and rough.
It was the one I’d toiled with all night.
Gutted by the idea that she might run because of what she’d seen.
Because of who I was.
Turmoil twined through her gorgeous features.
“Yes.”
My stomach nearly dropped to the ground, only she reached out with a shaky hand and scratched her nails through my beard.
“I’m terrified of you, Theo. Terrified of the way you make me feel. Terrified of the way you make me want you. Terrified of the way you make me want to stay.”
Her delicate throat tremored, and she seemed to hesitate before she admitted, “I am terrified of what you do. Of what I saw last night. I’m terrified of what it might cost. But…”