Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 30353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
"It's okay," a deep voice said from the other side of the door. It sent a shiver down my spine, though it was only partly from fear. I couldn't help but remember how it whispered to me in my dreams.
"We didn't mean to scare you," a similar, yet slightly different voice added. "We just wanted to apologize for last night."
So they followed me home and showed up at my doorstep to apologize? I didn't buy it. "It's fine," I answered as calmly as possible. "We're good, so you can go now."
"We also wanted to see you again," the original voice spoke. "Can you please let us in?" Not gonna happen.
"What's wrong with you? That's too forward," the other man said in a hushed tone.
"What? We do want to see him!"
"Yeah, but you can't just invite yourself into someone's home."
"Fine, if you're so smart, you talk to him."
If I weren't scared silly, I might chuckle at their bickering.
After a long sigh, one of the men said softly, "We are very sorry for coming to your home without invitation. We just wanted to apologize for startling you, and to give you some presents we bought for you."
"That's not necessary," I replied. I just wanted them to leave…mostly. A small part of me wanted them to stay, although I didn't understand it in the slightest.
"Yes it is," the other man insisted. "We got you lots of things we think you'll like, including the pacifier you were looking-"
Apparently, my fear of my roommates surpassed my fear of the two strangers, because I instinctively threw the door open again and stepped out onto the porch before closing it behind me and exclaiming, "Shhhh! Don't say that out loud!" At the mens' confused expression, I explained, "If my roommates hear you talking like that, they'll beat the living crap out of me."
I took a step back when their expressions morphed into burning fury. "No one will touch you as long as I'm breathing," the slightly taller man growled. His twin's lip snarled as he nodded his agreement and cracked his neck. They looked terrifying…and hot as hell. But why were they fired up about me? They didn’t know me. Maybe they just had a protective streak, and I’d read them wrong the night before.
"It's fine," I repeated, trying to calm us all down. "They're just not the kind of guys who would be okay with that sort of thing being in the house." As I spoke, my eyes wandered down to the plastic shopping bags the men held. I wondered what sorts of treasures were inside, but I was too afraid to find out. "So thank you, but I can't accept them."
The shorter (but still huge) man's eyebrows furrowed. "But what about the pacifier you had last night?"
"I mainly just look at them," I answered with a shrug. I'd bought a pacifier once, and used it while driving in my car, but I was so worried that someone might see me that I couldn't fully enjoy it. I ended up throwing it away outside of a gas station. “Wait a minute; why did you bring me the paci when you were teasing me about it last night?”
“Paci,” the tall man repeated in a dreamy voice, but his brother’s eyes filled with hurt.
“We would never tease you! When we saw you in the baby aisle, we were excited to find someone with our same interests.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. “You mean…you guys…” I couldn’t finish my thought; both because my brain was spinning in overdrive, and because I’d admitted too much out loud while my roommates were in earshot. I waved my hands in the air and said, "I really can't talk about this here."
"May we take you somewhere you do feel comfortable talking?" The shorter man asked.
Inexplicably, my heart leapt and begged for me to agree, but my brain sent a logical answer to my lips. "I don't even know you."
"Forgive us," he said with a bow of his head. "I'm Felix, and this is my brother Enzo." He lowered a bag to the porch and held out his hand. When I took it, my skin was encased in strength and warmth. After a moment, Enzo batted his brother's hand away to take mine, and it felt just as wonderful.
"I'm Anthony," I replied. "But most people call me Ant."
"How perfect; our sweet little Ant," Enzo said with a goofy grin, making my body buzz with both excitement and nervousness.
Unsure what to do with my mixed emotions, I dropped his hand and took another step back, until I bumped up against the front door. "Well, it was nice meeting you, but I've got a lot of work to do today." It wasn't a lie; the house was a wreck.
“May we take you to work so we can talk on the way?” Felix asked hopefully.