Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
So taking his hand and hanging on to it as he’d helped me out of the car had been a gamble; one that seemed to have paid off so far. But it was a far cry from a few days earlier when he’d told me he loved me in the parking lot of Double D’s and I’d admitted my own feelings.
Then I’d told the truth for the first time since I’d been released from The Tower as yet another one of God’s miracles—a young man who’d been freed from the sin of homosexuality.
I’d told the truth, and nothing was the same.
Lincoln hadn’t told me he loved me again, the men around me pretended not to be disgusted by who I was and what I’d done, and I’d been trying to make sense of all of it at the same time that I’d been telling myself it was all in the past now and I was okay, despite admitting the opposite a mere three days ago.
The sound of a donkey braying dragged me from my thoughts. I looked to my right to see a small barn with a large paddock attached to it. Various livestock roamed around, including the donkey that had distracted me, but it was the zebra that had me doing a double take. I heard Lincoln chuckling as I pulled him to a full stop.
“That’s Jerry,” Lincoln said.
“He’s beautiful,” I murmured as I watched the black and white striped animal approaching us. I was stunned when he put his neck over the fence and extended it like he wanted us to come closer.
That was exactly what I did. Well, we, actually, since I still had hold of Lincoln’s hand.
“Careful,” he warned me as I got closer to the animal’s black muzzle.
“He bites?” I asked.
Lincoln chuckled. “No, not exactly. So far, the only stories I’ve heard about him include the time he pushed Nolan into the water trough and left piles of zebra landmines in some very inconvenient places.”
I laughed at that and carefully reached my hand out to let the animal sniff my fingers. I made sure to keep my hand fisted so I didn’t lose any fingers if Jerry decided to see what I tasted like. The zebra sniffed my knuckles then pushed his nose against them. I was completely entranced by the animal’s soft suede-like skin.
“Has he ever done anything to you?” I asked. I glanced at Lincoln, who was standing to my left. The way he was looking at me made a delicious shiver run throughout my entire body.
“I haven’t been here too often, but after hearing all the horror stories, I’ve always made sure to come prepared,” he said after a long beat of silence. His voice sounded husky and I felt that yummy feeling go through me again.
Lincoln pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket and searched through it until he found what he was looking for. He dropped my hand so he could take hold of my wrist instead. He took his time coaxing my hand to open. His strong fingers made my skin burn but in a good way. A strange sensation stole up my arm. It felt like every nerve, every cell, every muscle in my arm were connected to his fingers.
“Keep your hand open, palm flat. He’ll take the carrot without biting you, I promise,” Lincoln said, his eyes never leaving mine. I didn’t even notice the carrot until he broke eye contact and released my hand.
I struggled to catch my breath as I did as he said. I laughed when Jerry seemed to take the carrot with his lips before he pulled it all the way into his mouth and began chewing on it. “It tickled,” I said.
When Lincoln didn’t respond, I saw that he was once again watching me.
Intensely.
A weird, heavy energy seemed to make the air around us come alive.
“I’ll never get tired of that,” Lincoln said as he took a step closer to me.
That shiver stole through me again. Nerves, maybe? “What? That it tickles?” I asked in confusion.
Lincoln’s fingers closed around my hand. The same hand he’d been holding when we’d entered the sanctuary. He also kept closing the distance between us until our bodies were just inches apart. It felt like my whole body came alive and that weird fog I’d been walking around in over the last few days disintegrated. His eyes left mine and dropped to my mouth. My brain had finally caught up to my body by then, so I understood what was happening.
“That laugh,” Lincoln said softly. He seemed mesmerized by my mouth.
“What laugh?” I asked stupidly because I’d completely forgotten what we were talking about. I was too caught up in the realization that the man before me still wanted me.
Despite everything I’d told him, despite the warnings that he deserved more, he still wanted me.