Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Because I’m the mean one.”
“Okay, stop feeling sorry for yourself.” She narrows her eyes at me, and I grin. “Do you have a mean streak? Yes, Lorelei, you always have. I don’t know what it says about me that your sassiness is one of the things I love most about you. I think you and I went through quite possibly the most difficult thing a couple can go through. We lost a child. Even if that baby was still tiny, we didn’t love it any less.”
“No, we didn’t.” She exhales and takes a bite of her pizza. “I clung to my anger toward you so tightly. Honestly, I feel kind of naked now that I’m working through it. And that makes me feel vulnerable, and I don’t like it.”
“I know.” I follow her lead and go back to eating my pizza. “I want nothing more than to work through this with you.”
“We can’t be together.” She slices her hand through the air. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not, exactly?”
“Trust, for one.”
“Are you really going to sit there and tell me you don’t trust me? That, deep down in your heart, you really think I’m untrustworthy? Come on, baby, you know that’s not true.”
“It was true. Once,” she whispers. “I’ve lived the past several years severing myself from you.”
“Didn’t work.”
“I turned off my emotions when it came to you. After a while, it wasn’t anger I felt, but nothing at all. I was numb.”
“Bullshit.”
Her eyes flash at me, and I grin.
“See? That look, right there. The one that says, I’m going to kick your ass. That’s not numbness, and you’ve given me that look from the moment you moved home and saw me at that first coven meeting with Jonas. You’re not indifferent when it comes to me.”
“It would be easier if I were.” She finishes her pizza and sets the plate aside. “Besides, we have enough to deal with right now. We don’t need to bring our feelings for each other into the mix.”
“Maybe we do.” I shake my head when she starts to argue. “I think the bonds that tie us all together only make us stronger—as both witches and humans. If we strengthen those bonds, we’ll have an even better chance of defeating the asshole and lifting the curse. We’re powerful together, Lorelei.”
“We’re just as powerful as friends.”
“No.” I hold her gaze with mine. “We’re not. And you know it.”
Rather than reply, she stands and gathers our plates, then hurries into the kitchen and begins loading the dishwasher.
“I refuse to start up a relationship with you just because of some creep and a curse.” She scowls down at the dishwasher tab in her hand before putting it into the compartment and slamming the door shut. “That’s ridiculous.”
I turn her around and cage her against the countertop. Goddess, she seems so tiny next to me. Always has.
“Do you think that’s all this is? Do you honestly believe that the only reason I want you is because of the drama going on in our lives? For fuck’s sake, Lorelei. I’ve loved you for my entire godsdamn life. My heart only beats because I know you’re in this world, and I spend every moment of every day wishing for you.”
“Xander—”
I tip her chin up when she moves to look away.
“I know we have a long journey ahead of us full of healing and learning. I’m not stupid. We can’t pick up where we left off. But damn it, I want to try to make this work. I need you.”
A single tear slips down her cheek, and I catch it with my finger.
“You can stay here,” she says at last, then swallows. “I know it’s safer for us to be together. You’ll sleep in the guest room, though.”
I smile. “That’s a start.”
“It’s all I’m willing to give right now.”
“I understand.” I lean down and press my lips to her forehead, then step back and give her space. “Thank you.”
She nods and blows out a breath. “This could be a huge mistake.”
“Or the best thing ever.”
“I guess there’s no in-between, is there?”
I shrug a shoulder. “I don’t see one.”
“I have to make things right with my cousins.”
“And you will. Tomorrow.”
She nods and bites her lip. “Do you need to go get anything from your place?”
“I’ll do that tomorrow, too.”
“Okay, well, I’ll show you to your room, then.” She walks around me and down the hall that leads to the bedrooms, then opens the first door.
I feel my eyebrows climb into my hairline.
“That’s a twin bed.”
“I know.” She covers a laugh with her hand. “I’m sorry, it’s all I have. I don’t have any other friends who are almost seven feet tall.”
“You want me to sleep in that.”
“It’s all I have,” she says again.
Without a word, I walk around her and open the door to her bedroom, seeing the California King bed in the middle of the room. Then, I turn back to her and raise an eyebrow.