Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
I know it makes no sense, and I need to calm the heck down, but I can’t help it.
“We didn’t,” I tell him. “There’s no point thinking about what would have happened.”
He looks over at me, his lips twitching in the suggestion of a smile. “You’re wise beyond your years, Freya.”
I give his arm another squeeze, conscious of the fact mom or Julie could wake up and catch us.
Felix must notice me glancing in the back. He laughs dryly.
“It would be a lot to explain,” he says softly, “on top of everything else, wouldn’t it?”
I return his laugh with the same dryness. “I’m not even sure what I would say.”
We’re both whispering now, though that doesn’t remove the risk. I don’t think mom or Julie would pretend to be asleep so they could eavesdrop. I can’t imagine them doing that.
“Tell them a madman has become obsessed with you,” he says, grinning, making me laugh again, even if it’s the last thing I should be doing. “Tell them the second he saw you, he went into full caveman mode, and now he has to have you. Now he’s become dangerously possessive, and he’ll never let you go.”
I smile, hoping he can’t detect the pain twisting through me.
He’s telling me everything I want and need to hear, but it sounds as if it’s a joke.
Surely that means he doesn’t feel it.
Which I already knew since it’s the only thing that makes sense.
How could he feel the same?
“That would be quite the shock,” I murmur.
He nods. “I imagine it would.”
“But seriously, what should I tell them? Or maybe that kiss was a one-time thing? Or….”
I’ve run out of ors.
He reaches over, keeping one hand on the wheel as he confidently steers the car. His other hand comes to rest on my leg, immediate nerves tingling up and down my thigh, over my sex, though he keeps his hand near my knee.
“It wasn’t a one-time thing,” he growls quietly.
“You said you never kissed anyone like that before.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, maybe now would be a good time if you want to change your story.”
His hand tightens on my leg, squeezing with the force of possession, as though he’s telling me in his gesture that I’m his, will only ever be his.
“It’s the truth,” he says. “I haven’t had a girlfriend in years. When I did, it was never like that.”
“Like what?” I say, feeling my heart pounding relentlessly at the back of my throat.
“There was never that passion,” he says, voice getting even more intense, hand claiming me with more force. “There was never that….”
“Freya?” Julie calls out, reaching across the seat, her voice heavy with sleep. She sits up, rubbing at her eyes, then peers into the front of the car. “Oh.”
A shiver of annoyance runs through me at the interruption.
What was Felix going to say?
Guilt stabs into me a second later.
“I’m here,” I say.
She nods, arms wrapping across her middle.
Felix looks at me, meaning in his eyes. At first, I think he’s asking to tell Julie and mom right here and now.
Hey, guys, just so you know, this stranger who’s saving our lives, I’m also pretty freaking obsessed with him.
But then I wonder if he’s nudging me to ask Julie about her phone call.
“Julie, what did you mean earlier? When you called me?”
“Huh?” Her eyes flit to Felix, then back to me. “I don’t remember.”
I bite down, remembering all the times Julie saved my hide in high school and the times she stood up for me.
Just because a tragedy has taken her father from her, and something else too – her spark – it doesn’t mean she’s not the same person.
“You called me and said something bad was going to happen,” I say. “Mike, your ex….”
She looks at the back of Felix’s head, then bites down as her eyes meet mine. She gives a frantic shake of her head.
“Later?” I prompt.
She nods. “Yeah, fine, that’ll be fine.”
I repress a sigh, wanting to ask her to expand, but it’s clear she won’t, not in front of Felix.
Felix’s mouth is tight, but he doesn’t say anything, doesn’t press her for more information.
Yet.
“These are the safest rooms in the house,” Felix says, waving a hand down the corridor.
It was difficult to get a sense of the scale as we approached the lake house, other than the fact it’s very large and has large concrete sections, the foundation, and the underground rooms, as opposed to only wood.
Now, we’re in a large multi-room basement, looking as though it was built to survive a nuclear fallout.
“I know it’s not the Ritz,” he says. “But you’ll be safe.”
“Where are you going?” I ask when he turns away.
I sense my mom looking at me, probably wondering why there’s so much emotion in my voice for this apparent stranger.
Felix turns back, staring at me with those intense eyes.