Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Good!” Cooper swings up from my bed and hooks his arm with mine as he leads us out the door. “I wonder if your boyfriends will be coming.”
“Oh, we will be!” Malyk calls out, and I quickly turn to see him staring back at us from behind his door.
I need to see Malyk since I haven’t managed to talk with him alone since I fell asleep during his story time.
“I’ll catch up with you downstairs!” I shove Cooper away from me and quickly turn to Malyk.
Malyk’s body shifts, dipping behind the door, and the closer I get, the more I can sense why. Pungent smell of metallic fills my senses, and I pause. Reaching for his arm, I check him over.
“Why do you smell like blood?”
He doesn’t answer, his arm turning stiff. “I ran over an animal on the road and tried to help it.”
I look up into his eyes. Malyk’s beauty is in your face. It’s the kind of beauty that slaps you hard, and before you know it, you find yourself tracing all the sharp lines of his features. His eyes, though. His eyes have a kind of depth that you wish you could get lost in.
“What’s the matter, baby girl?” I feel his finger graze across my belly, where my shirt is tied up in the middle. “Scared?”
I swallow. “No. I just…” My skin prickles to life as I reach up behind the back of his neck, pulling him down to my lips. He doesn’t fight me but doesn’t move to make it easier either. His mouth smirks against mine.
“Blood turn you on?”
I roll my eyes. There’s no way this man is going to take anything serious right now, so I push away from him, only he catches my wrist and forces my body back into his. Before I can fight him off, his mouth catches mine, and he kisses me. My stomach erupts in a ball of fire as his tongue sneaks in and flicks against mine as if it knows its way around. Images flash behind my eyes of the story I read earlier. Sparrow…it is an unusual enough name to wonder if it has to do with my Sparrow. Can’t be, surely? Nothing makes sense, and I feel myself sink deeper and deeper into a dark depth of worry.
He brings his hand up to rest on the side of my cheek, swiping his thumb across the line of my cheekbone, and I shudder at the gentleness of the gesture. Pulling back slightly, he rests his forehead on mine. “You should probably go.”
“Can you tell me the rest of my story later?”
He steps back, and I instantly hate the distance between us. It’s almost like the farther he is away from me, the more I want to come in closer. What kind of witchcraft is it that these men hold? “We’ll see.”
“Hurry up, woman!” Cooper’s voice echoes up the stairs, and I look over my shoulder before coming back to Malyk.
I promised Sparrow that I wouldn’t tell anyone about the book, so if I ask Malyk about that, I’d be betraying his trust—but.
“Shiloh St. motherfucking Claire! Let’s get drunk. Come on!”
Malyk’s eyes drift over my shoulder. “He’s annoying me. You better take him away.”
I step backward, and every inch away from him feels like a direct pull in my heart. Jogging down the stairs, I ignore Mahlia’s voice in the kitchen, talking with Sparrow’s mom as I hook my arm with Cooper. “Let’s go.”
“Shi!” Dion calls out from behind me just as I’m about to step out the door.
I haven’t quite turned all the way around when he tosses a set of keys into my chest. “Take the Lambo.”
I blink at Dion, who’s shoveling spoonfuls of granola into his mouth. “Why?”
He shrugs, kicking off the side of the wall and closing the distance between us. Construction crews move around the main living areas, figuring out their next area to renovate. He grabs me by the chin, tilting my head up so my eyes come to his. Memories roll down my spine from the same motion happening last night, and my cheeks spread pink.
He smirks, licking his bottom lip. “Kinda liked what you were wearing this morning, Poppet.”
“Okay, I’ma just butt in and take—” Cooper tries to snatch the keys from my hand, but I squeeze around them.
“Are you coming to whatever this is?” I ask softly, fighting with myself to not just drag him back upstairs with Malyk, after finding Sparrow.
He dips forward and plants a kiss on my forehead. I close my eyes and inhale for a second. How can something so forbidden feel so natural. How can they not be jealous of each other? Why am I in the middle of a three-man club sandwich?
And why do I like it?
“I’ll see you later.” He turns, and I watch as his back disappears through the kitchen.