Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
"Callum," I moan into his mouth, pleading for a taste of the forbidden.
He gives it to me when he breaks from my mouth to kiss a trail down my chest. Right there on the sidewalk in front of the house, his mouth closes over my right breast, and his teeth around my nipple. He bites me, shoving his knee between my legs to grind me down on it at the same time.
I turn to putty in his arms, throwing my head back to shout his name into the sky as lava flows through my veins in place of blood. It feels so good. God, I feel like I'm flying even though my feet haven't even left the ground.
"Oh, Firefly," he groans, kissing his way back to my mouth. He nips my bottom lip before brushing a sweet kiss across the bite. "When I get inside you, I'm going to ruin us both."
I'm pretty sure he ruined me already.
Chapter Five
Callum
After dinner, Hope leads me out to her shop to show me around. The shop itself is a large metal building situated beside a natural spring on the property. The bottling machine is a massive contraption that takes up half the shop. Empty bottles hang from one end. Full bottles fill a pushcart on the other, with a table full of labels and shrink-wrap packaging a little farther away.
"Water is pumped in through here," she explains, pointing out the lines running to the spring outside the building, "where it's filtered and purified, and then bottles are filled automatically before moving down the line to be labeled and packaged. All I have to do is place the bottles on the line to be filled and then pull them off the end, label, and pack." Her nose wrinkles. "And keep an eye out to make sure nothing gets jammed up. The caps get stuck sometimes."
"You do all this by yourself?"
"Two high school students help label and pack on weekends, but otherwise, yeah, it's just me and Betty here." She pats the side of the machine affectionately. "We do okay by ourselves."
"It's a lot of fucking work, Firefly."
"Eventually, I'll be able to hire full-time help," she says quietly. "But it's not in the budget yet. The first three months have been amazing, but I have a long way to go before I'm to that point."
"Why sell the water?"
"Why not?" She shrugs. "This land has been in my family for generations. I grew up listening to my granny tell me stories about how special the water is here. I've spent most of my life listening to people in town talk about it the same way. To everyone outside of Silver Spoon Falls, it's just water. But to the people here, it means something. It's hope and a connection to the land and our past. It's the thing that allowed us to survive when so many others weren't as fortunate. They believe in it because everyone needs a magic in their lives. It's what keeps us young."
"You don't believe it."
"I don't know what I believe anymore," she whispers, looking at me through her lashes with a troubled expression. "It's hard to believe in fairytales and happily-ever-after when the only example I had growing up ended the way it did. But…I don't know. Maybe I bottle it because I want to believe."
Poor little firefly. She aches to know what love feels like, but is terrified to reach for it. The memories from her past are burned into her psyche, making her hesitant to trust even her own heart. I'm going to change that. I'm going to teach her that she can trust what it's telling her. She can trust me.
Our love story won't end like her parents did. I won't ever allow that. I don't want to harm this fiery goddess. I want to worship at her feet. That's what a king does. Worships his queen. Protects her. Defends her above all others. She doesn't know me well yet, but she will. I'm not just going to be her bodyguard. I'm going to be the reason her heart beats…the one person she trusts with every little piece of herself.
I stride toward her, tipping her chin up until her gorgeous eyes meet mine. "I'm going to make you believe, sweet Hope," I murmur before brushing my lips across hers in a soft pass. I want to deepen the kiss, take more. Always, I want more of her.
She's sparked a hunger in my soul that nothing short of possessing her will sate. But now isn't the time for that. Baby steps. Even if it fucking kills me. And just so we're clear, it very well might kill me. My dick has never been this hard before…and it's been this hard all goddamn day.
I reluctantly pull back before I can take too much or get lost in her. It's far too easy to do when she burns as hot as she does. She goes up like kindling as soon as I get her in my arms. But now isn't the time. "What can I do to help?"