Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 122(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 122(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
The faces of my siblings materialize in my mind. Bex who always has peanut butter smeared in the corners of his mouth. Quiet, serious Molly who just wants to hide in the closet and read books. Orla with her Harry Styles scrapbook. Vincent who is kind of creepy, but we love him, anyway.
I slowly stop struggling.
I can’t fail them.
“You’ve either tired yourself out or you’ve seen reason,” Koen remarks.
“Shut up.”
Is that a laugh or a whip of the wind? I’ll never know, because we step into his deathly silent house, the door closes, cutting off the storm.
And I guess it’s showtime.
God help me.
3
Koen
Ishould have just let this girl walk away.
What the hell do I care what happens to her?
She’s a skinny mess with big, ridiculous hazel eyes, scraped knees and hair that hasn’t seen the business end of some scissors in half a decade. At least. She doesn’t want to be here, either…and yet I’ve chosen her to be the very first guest in my home. Ever.
I could have let her drown, I suppose. I’ve been responsible for dozens of lost lives, what’s one more? I’m not sure what made me hurtle myself down the stairs at a breakneck pace and tear out into the ocean to save her. Except at one point, before she started to drown, I saw an outpouring of grief and sadness on her face.
And I recognized those things.
Now I’m carrying her into the downstairs guest bathroom, which has never been used, determined to make her warm. Just so I can button up this unusual and unexpected situation and return to drinking myself to death.
When I drag the girl off my shoulder and settle her onto the marble vanity, I’m caught off guard, my hands lingering in mid-air as I back toward the tub. I was too irritated down on the beach to notice she’s quite…pretty up close. As she raises her chin stubbornly, shielding her see-through bra by crossing her arms, I amend that. No, she’s stunningly beautiful. She’s wrapped in drenched, long, dark brown hair, her skin soft and absorbing the muted bathroom light, as if it’s drawn to her. Dying to be soaked in by her.
“Suddenly you don’t seem all that concerned about me catching hypothermia,” she says, turning her head to let out a delicate sneeze.
“I didn’t say I was concerned,” I bluster. “I just don’t want you to die on my beach.”
“Dead young girls lower the property value?”
Not for the first time, I have the urge to laugh in this person’s presence. Why? “Exactly.”
“Hmm.”
“Speaking of young, how old are you? No lying. I’ll know.”
That vow seems to rattle her, but not for long. “Eighteen. Swear.”
“Hmm.”
I stare her down for long moment, but she doesn’t so much as flinch. And goddammit, the fire in this girl is beginning to make my dick hard. Unbelievable. I locked myself away to feel pain, not experience pleasure. The very act of looking at her, tracing the line of her cupid’s bow lips, is enough to constitute pleasure in itself.
Enough.
With a snarl, I go toward the bath, keeping the girl in my periphery. Just in case she’s been sent here by Etta to kill me. An angry flick of my wrist turns on the tap and the water is filling the tub in seconds, steam rising in the mostly dark bathroom.
Silence is filled by the sound of rippling water, but I find…
I wouldn’t mind hearing her voice again. Once more. She’ll be out of here as soon as I make sure she’s not going to drop dead.
“What’s your name?”
My abrupt question causes her arms to momentarily drop away from her breasts and I see them. Through her cheap bra. Creamy and tipped with rosebuds. Full. Sweet.
“Um.”
“That’s an answer that shouldn’t require a thought.”
“Meg. I’m Meg.” She huffs a breath. “Sorry, you just make me feel unnerved.”
“Good. Stay that way.”
Without missing a beat, she slides off the vanity and marches out the bathroom door. I’m embarrassed to admit my jaw hangs open for a second, before I reanimate and go after her. I only give myself a few steps to enjoy the shake of that ass in wet panties, before I wheel myself in front of the girl, blocking her from going any farther.
“Where are you going?”
“To hurl myself off the cliff, so I don’t have to spend any more time with you.”
I heave a humorless laugh up at the hallway ceiling. “This is what I get for trying to help. No good deed goes—”
“Oh God.” She sags dramatically against the wall. “Are my ears bleeding yet?”
The bravery of this one. “Get in the bath, smartass.”
She actually tries to dodge me. “No.”
“Why haven’t you asked for my name yet?”
She snaps her fingers. “Ooh. Quick, tell me so I can forget it.”
“It’s Koen. And you’re not going to forget it.” I scoop her up with a forearm under her ass, deviously satisfied when her nose bumps mine and she sucks in a breath, probably because I separate her legs and perch them on opposite hips. Something stops me from pulling her pussy flush to my stiffness, though. I think it’s something about wanting her to calm down enough to feel safe with me, which is fucking ridiculous.