Series: The Circle of Monsters Series by Sam Crescent
Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 210(@200wpm)___ 168(@250wpm)___ 140(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 210(@200wpm)___ 168(@250wpm)___ 140(@300wpm)
The moment she stepped onto the cold tile of the kitchen, she breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t died. Part of her had expected there to be booby traps or something. Nothing. She was safe.
Moving to the fridge, she opened it. The burst of cool air made her realize how overheated she was. Skye craved fresh air. She glanced around the room, looking for anything to provide her with air. Over the sink she saw a window. She went to it and tried to pry it open, but nothing she did worked.
“Escaping through the window is not going to happen.”
His deep voice made her jump, scream, and spin around. He was standing in a dark corner.
“Why did you do that?” she asked, putting a hand to her chest. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
He frowned at her.
“If I did something like that, you would know about it.” He stepped out of the darkened shade of the corner and moved toward her. “What are you trying to do?”
“Not what you think I’m doing.” She gritted her teeth. “I’m … I need some air, okay?” The sweating had gotten a little worse since seeing him, but she had no intention of telling him that.
He just stared at her.
Minutes passed.
“Will you open the window or are all of these for show and don’t actually open?” What was the point of having nonfunctional windows? It made no sense.
“They do open, but only after I remove the security lock.”
“Have you babyproofed your house?” she asked. Even though she was a nanny, she had struggled with some of the babyproofing traps. They were a nightmare to work with.
Now that Galen had stepped into the light, she couldn’t help but look. No, possibly even drool, which was insane, because he was a killer.
He’d killed to protect you.
That wasn’t the point. She had to remember what he’d actually done.
Nibbling her lip, she tried to ignore how sexy the man was. He was ripped to perfection. She had noticed the scar down his right cheek. It wasn’t red or inflamed, so she had a feeling that was done many years ago. One look at his bare upper body, and she saw more scars. What surprised her was how many tattoos he had. Not that it was a bad thing.
In the past few weeks, her boss had been walking around topless, showing off his abundance of ink, which had always unnerved her. She hadn’t been around naked men. Still the virgin, not that she told anyone.
Pushing thoughts away of Galen between her thighs, touching her, taking her, she forced herself to look up at him. She didn’t want him to think of her as a coward.
“May I please have some fresh air?” She pressed a palm to her chest.
Galen moved toward the window, and she couldn’t quite see what he did, but in the next second, the window was open. She leaned close to it, but there wasn’t any fresh air. It was stagnant outside.
He stood right behind her, so close, she was sure she felt the heat of his body against hers, which was wrong, right?
“It’s the height of summer. I could adjust the thermostat if you want it cooler.”
Skye turned and yes, he was indeed standing closer to her. So close that she was tempted to reach out and put her hands on his bare chest. How hard would those muscles feel against her hands?
Instead, she forced a smile to her lips and kept her fingers locked tight and close to herself. Touching him wouldn’t be a good thing.
“That would be great.”
And to add to her humiliation, her stomach chose that moment to growl.
“And you’re hungry.”
“I can grab myself a sandwich or something. It’s no trouble. Really.” Her heart raced but not out of fear. That fact also scared her.
There was no way she could be attracted to a man who had killed someone, was there? If there was ever a man who wasn’t relationship material, it was the man next to her. No, it just wasn’t possible. She was sweating because of the heat.
Her body shook a little from the … fear. Yes, the fear. That was it. And the hardening of her nipples and slickness of her pussy? She must have drifted off to sleep, because there was no logical reason for her to be attracted to him.
“I can cook for you,” Galen said. He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
She gasped from the contact. How is this possible? He had a cruel edge to him and yet, here he was, stroking her hair, touching her, being so nice. She couldn’t believe this was happening.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“My kitchen, my house, my … guest, my rules.”
He put his hands on her shoulders and moved her back toward the table. She had sat here hours earlier in front of food and had vomited instead. Was he angry? Galen was impossible to read.