Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Ah, fuck.
I shouldn’t have let that slip.
“Later. I’ll tell you at my house.” I haul myself to my feet.
“Nope. In case you hadn’t noticed, I still haven’t agreed to anything.”
I dart her the world’s dirtiest look.
Sweet Jesus, this woman and her pride.
“Philia, listen.” Sighing, I turn back to face her. “Look at it like you’re doing me a favor. Nothing more. Between you and me, my folks haven’t had a real vacation in years. I’d like to let them get out of town before Christmas and away from any sketchy shit around here, but they’ve gotta be here to look after Nell when I’m at work, and with school, I can’t let her go with them. I know you. I bet you’re going stir-crazy, fretting nonstop when you’re not with your ma. We could use a little help around the house to give my parents a break, let ’em take some time off. So, if you’re willing, I’d really appreciate it if you stayed with me, kept yourself out of trouble, and helped me out with the munchkin. It’d kill a whole flock of birds with one stone. You won’t have to be alone, looking over your shoulder while I track down your intruder, and I won’t have to worry about Nell while my parents are gone.”
Maybe that will push past her pride and let her actually accept.
But Ophelia just blinks at me, her mouth hanging open.
“What?” I frown. “What did I say?”
“...I don’t think you’ve ever said that many words with feeling in your entire life, for one.”
I groan, smacking my palm against my face.
“I do know how to fucking talk, Butterfly.”
She laughs. “Do you? You had me fooled for a good long while.”
“All grown up and still a pain in the ass.”
“Well, you helped spoil me growing up. So yeah, you should know.” She tilts her face up, eyeing me intently. “You promise you’ll clue me in on Ros if I come?”
Honestly, I’d clue her in even if she didn’t.
It’s not hard to see how worried she is, and dammit, I never should’ve swept it under the rug in the first place even if my intentions were to save her some grief.
“Yes,” I bite off.
Ophelia sighs.
“Fiiine,” she grumbles, pushing to her feet. “But you’ll have to wait here while I pack.”
“You want me to help?”
“No.” Her face flushes bright pink as she twists past me in the narrow space between the sofa and the coffee table without another word.
That damnably Ophelia Sanderson scent flares my nostrils again as the warmth of her body touches mine and leaves me burning. She throws a look over her shoulder as she heads to the stairs with a little toss of her shimmering honey-gold hair.
“Stay here. No boys allowed,” she says.
Then she’s gone, flitting upstairs, as warm and bright as if she hasn’t just been assaulted.
Goddamn.
How does she do it?
No matter what happens, Ophelia Sanderson picks herself up and forges on, shining on like the summer sun.
Then again, she wouldn’t be the woman who thieved away a piece of my heart ages ago if she didn’t.
Whatever happens next, that’s one jagged piece I’m sure I’ll never get back.
8
ONE BIG SLIP (OPHELIA)
There are times when I feel like Grant Faircross can sear me open with a single glance and see all my hidden secrets.
Which is why I can’t believe how dense he is sometimes.
And how completely oblivious he can be to the way he just delivered an earthquake, left me reeling by rushing to my side the second he thought I was in danger.
That closed-off, rude, blunt boy has grown into a man with an iron heart.
But there’s something different about him, too.
There are times when the walls crack for the briefest second and his emotions show freely.
It almost makes me think he cares.
That there’s something more than just the unwavering obligation to protect me because I’m his best friend’s little sister.
God.
Doesn’t he realize how many feelings he’s kicking up?
Like the fact that I’ve always hated how it felt like Grant just saw me as extended family, like his own little sister, a complete nonentity, not really a girl—or now, a woman.
But the way those dark-mocha eyes ran over me as he looked at my bruises, the way he touched me...
That was not the caring, distant caress of a big brother.
In that moment, Grant freaking Faircross made me feel every inch a woman and then some.
Also, it only took half an hour to pack my things, considering I’d just unpacked them and I hadn’t brought much with me to Redhaven.
Grant waited patiently downstairs, though I heard him thumping around a bit in the bathroom to put the first aid kit away. The déjà vu hit like a freight train.
It’s just weird.
Almost like years haven’t been lost in time, tossing us back to those easier days when we’d spent our evenings together.