Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 63214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
“You’re not in love with me. This is sex.”
“Maybe you should just believe in us and you’ll never be alone.”
I understood what he was saying, but he was a freaking snowman. Had this been a human man, it would’ve all made sense. Besides, I’d only known him for a few days and been utterly confused the whole time. Sure, I’d given him my body, but my heart was much harder to capture.
“I don’t know about any of this. I just have to take. . .these crazy moments one at a time.” Yawning a little, I rested against his chest.
“Just believe and you’ll never be alone.”
“Okay.” I sighed. “I’ll never be alone.”
“I’ll watch over you, Faith. I’m everywhere. We’re everywhere.”
“How?”
“I’m in the palm of your hand. I’m in the wind that blows through your hair and the silk that smooths against your skin. I’m the rays of the sun and you are too. You’re the tree and the soil that it’s rooted in. You’re the—”
“No. What I am is confused.”
“It doesn’t matter. Eventually, it will all make sense.” He smiled. “Just understand that I’ll always be watching you. I believe that I will still see you, even if I go into the light. Even if. . .you find another.”
“I doubt there will be another.” I closed my eyes. “You’re a spirit that fucks like a god. No one can compete with that.”
“Not even Brett?”
I snorted. “No. There’s no competition over there.”
“And what about that other one, I just learned his name, but forgot.”
“Who?” I kept my eyes closed.
“The one that makes your heart beat fast, when he steps onto your property.”
Daniel’s image popped in my head.
My heart warmed.
Suddenly, I felt a bit disappointed in myself for sleeping with this snowman so fast, but constantly blocking all of Daniel’s attempts at affection. Maybe it was the wife in me, that made me feel like I’d somehow cheated on Daniel, even though we had absolutely no relationship. Before making love to Remy, I’d hoped to give Daniel a real chance. In my heart, I knew he was the one.
What was an ice sculpture next to a real, warm, and breathing man?
What am I doing?
“Faith?” Remy lifted my chin.
I opened my eyes. “Yes?”
“Is he my competition?”
“I don’t even know what this is. I can’t answer that.”
Remy’s sparkling eyes dimmed for a few seconds and then he pulled me into his arms. “I don’t like that answer.”
“It’s the only answer I have right now. What could we really have with each other? And how could it work?”
Dear God, I’m talking to a snowman about how complicated our relationship will be! I’ve lost it! I’ve really gone and lost my mind!
I would’ve laughed, but sleep swallowed me whole.
In my dreams, I woke up in melted snow. Instead of it being cold, it was hot. Muddy soil coated my legs. All the sculptures had melted, even the elves. Those sapphire earrings sat on a pile of mud.
I cried, grabbed the earrings, clutching them in my palm, and whispered Remy’s name over and over.
The wind whipped through my hair. The blue sky darkened to solid black. Sun shifted to moon. Blue chirping birds transformed to hooting owls. Puffy white clouds separated and dissolved into bright silver stars. The earth shifted just with my saying his name alone, and I knew something more happened around me.
“Remy,” I whispered some more. “Remy.”
I rose from the ground and tightened my grip on those earrings. “Remy! Remy!”
And he came to me, a breeze on my naked skin and whispers of pleasure in my ears, the scent of juniper berries all around me and sweet romance caressing my tongue. Muddy dirt rose from the ground, stretching and bubbling into a huge form.
Gasping, I stepped back. “Remy?”
The mud continued to rise tall above me, towering over my small frame and scaring the shit out of me. The earrings left my hands and rose to the muddy form’s face. A mouth and teeth appeared. A boiling sludge scent drifted my way.
I covered my nose and stepped back some more. “Remy?”
Lightening streaked against the sky. Thunder rumbled off in the distance. My whole body quaked and fear.
A dark voice boomed from the mud. “I’m always watching!”
“No!” I screamed. This time when I stepped back I fell. Where the land should have been solid and steady, it was as empty as a cliff. I’d fallen off some sort of ledge, dropping. Descending into darkness. Plunging.
I had no control.
No way to stop the sinking into black.
Nothing to hook onto and stop my drop.
No one’s hand to grab and save me.
Just my screams.
And the darkness that raced upward and swarmed all around me.
Chapter 11
Daniel
A
pack of white creatures howled at the moon.
While many didn’t see wolves in our parts, they were around. The United States had more than eleven thousand gray wolves alone, spread out through forty-eight states. Wolves didn’t attack humans much. Attacks depended on the location.