Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Huh?
Kyla was flabbergasted. Where was he going?
“I need to sleep,” he muttered this and shook his jacket off so it fell to the floor. Then he got his shirt, shoes, socks, and then jeans off.
Stripped to black boxer briefs, he climbed under the covers and plopped onto the pillow and threw his forearm over his eyes. She looked at him, accusingly, mouth hanging open.
After that declaration, he lets go and…and that’s it?
Talk about feeling bereft.
She climbed under the covers and scooted over beside him, “Uh…Hello?”
“Hello.”
“Uh…”
“I’m very mad at you.” He muttered this, lifting his arm briefly and giving her a narrow-eyed look and as her heart started to sink she caught that he looked like he was trying to suppress a smile.
“Oh.” She dug her elbow in the pillow adjacent to him and propped her cheek up on her palm.
“Yeah. So shhh, go to sleep. I’m tired. I’ll deal with you later.” Now he was definitely failing at trying to hide a smile.
“We’re not going to talk?”
“Tomorrow. I haven’t slept. I need to close my eyes for a little bit.”
“You said you wanted to talk.”
“Tomorrow.”
She leaned over him and whispered in his ear, “You don’t want to fuck me and drink some of my blood?” She used her phone sex operator voice, flicking his earlobe with the tip of her tongue and reaching between his legs, feeling smug about the fact that he was hard.
“Nope.” He grabbed her hand and pulled it up to his chest and held onto it. She could see goose bumps on his forearm and was supremely pleased with that.
“You aren’t going to tell me you love me, too?” Kyla asked, in a small voice, brushing her nose across the rough stubble on his jawline.
“M-A-D,” he spelled out. His eyes were still covered but now there was a goofy grin on his face.
“Oh,” she pouted, “’kay, then.”
He reached over and turned the lamp off, wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her close. She put her nose to his chest and inhaled him, threading her fingers into his hair. She listened to him breathing and to his heartbeat and felt like she was being softly lulled to sleep by all of it. His hand rested on the arch of her ear, his fingers tangled in her hair.
“But you’re not so mad at me that you won’t let me cuddle with you?”
“Nuh uh.” He tugged on her ponytail.
“Good enough,” she nuzzled in.
After a few minutes of nothing but crickets outside and the sound of his heart and his breathing soothing her, she felt him tense up.
Then he softly said, “Princess?”
“Hmm?” Her soul wanted to sing at hearing the endearment.
“I will not let you go. Ever. You were meant for me. You were created to be mine. Somehow I still have remnants of a soul and I know this deep in there.”
She choked on a sob. He wasn’t done.
“I’m gonna make sure you don’t ever have to run away from me again.” His voice was soft, smooth, and she was overcome with the scent of warm caramel sauce. This was aromatherapy at its finest.
“’Kay.”
“And I do love you, too,” he whispered, “I love you more than breathing. More than blood, more than anything.”
Wow.
Her throat was clogged. She let out a long stuttering breath.
“But I am mad at you. Don’t ever fucking run from me like that again. We need a contingency plan for if things ever go wrong again. We’ll make one. Okay?” he kissed her forehead.
“Kay,” she said. She wanted him. She wanted him in the worst way, “and I’m not mad at you, Tristan. Even though you almost killed me.”
He squeezed her and kissed her forehead again, “Thank you, baby,” he murmured.
She wanted him to bite her. She wanted him inside her. But he just held her and stroked her hair until he fell asleep, which didn’t take long. When his hand stopped moving she wondered if he was showing her that he had self-control. Then she closed her eyes.
-2-
Kyla woke up to the sound of a lawnmower and the scent of fresh cut grass. Tristan was still sound asleep beside her and for a split second all was right with the world.
All was not yet right with her world, of course, but here in his arms it felt like right was definitely possible and she wanted to enjoy the ‘right now’ while she could.
It was just a double bed, way smaller than the beds she’d been in with him so far, but this was good; she liked how close he was. She felt safe for the first time since she’d left him.
Safe was an odd feeling to have considering she’d run away to be safe but strangely, she did feel safe. It felt like she was almost whole. Almost. There was so much to figure out, yeah, but she felt like she might feel whole again when he drank from her.