Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Luke opens the door, looking fiercer in the light of day. His eyes gleam with more obsession.
No, not obsession. With something intense, anyway.
He walks across the room, standing at the edge of the bed. I don’t know if I’m relieved or annoyed that I slept in my clothes.
“We’re going to have breakfast and then hit the road.”
“We’re moving again so soon?”
“Need to get farther away from the city,” Luke says.
He’s wearing a T-shirt that shows his arms, the tight muscles, and the veins pushing against his skin as if there’s a beast in there ready to break out.
It almost did last night… when he almost killed my dad.
He makes it way too easy to forget that when he stares.
“Okay,” I murmur. “I guess I didn’t imagine last night, then.”
The corner of his lip twitches. It makes my chest sparkle, the way he stares, as if I’m the only thing he cares about.
“No,” he says. “That would be one hell of a hallucination.”
“I feel how I did after…”
I trail off, sitting up, wrapping my arms around my knees, and ending the sentence before I can go too far.
He sits on the edge of the bed. I realize he closed the door behind him, sealing us in together. He’s not sitting close, but isn’t this weird, sort of intimate, him sitting on my bed at all?
“After what?” he asks.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You wouldn’t have said anything if it didn’t matter.”
“Why do you care?” I say, summoning the sass he seems to like so much.
I’m rewarded with another smirk, which dazzles me inside. It shouldn’t. I know that. It shouldn’t make me feel positive, considering who this man is, and what he was going to do, but I can’t fight the feeling.
He shrugs, turning away, giving me a profile view of his powerful features.
“We’re going to be traveling together. Can’t hurt to talk some.”
I wonder if he’s sharing the whole truth. Or maybe I’m hoping. He cares because he wants me.
“It’s nothing,” I murmur. “Well… not nothing. It’s everything, but it was a long time ago.”
He returns his gaze to me. “If you want to share, I’ll listen.”
I almost ask why again, but there’s something new in his tone. He’s gone from gruff and cynical to understanding, as if his exterior defenses are falling down and he’s opening himself up to some sort of connection.
With me? The woman he technically kidnapped?
Right…
“My mom died when I was little, that’s all.” I throw my hands up. “That’s all. It doesn’t matter!”
“I understand,” he says. “It’s difficult to talk about… big things. Sometimes, we have to make them small.”
I nod. “That’s it. She suffered a long bout with cancer, Dad told me. I was too young to remember most of it, but I remember the end. I remember thinking I would wake up any second in bed, and she’d be there, stroking her hand through my hair, calling me silly for thinking she’d ever leave.”
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“Wow, that almost sounded like you cared.”
He winces. “You don’t have to be snarky all the time.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, then wonder if I should take it back.
Should I be apologizing to the man who stole me from my life?
“I’m not sure exactly how this ends,” Luke says, “but I’m going to protect you.”
“Because you want to do the right thing,” I say, unable to keep the disbelief from my voice.
“Exactly.”
“How long have you been a killer? The way Dad was talking last night, it’s like he assumes you’ve been doing this for a long time.”
“He said that?”
“Not exactly, but he called you a hit man. Is that what you are, Luke?”
He runs a hand through his hair.
“It’s as good a word as any,” he says gruffly. “Some call me a fixer.”
“Why?” I whisper. “Why would you pick that job?”
He stands quickly, his arms hanging almost dangerously at his sides.
It’s not as if I think he’s going to hurt me. For some reason—and this might make me crazy—I know he’d never do that.
“Don’t ask about my business,” he snaps.
I don’t plan on leaping to my feet and stalking over to him. I don’t plan on staring up at him with my chest pounding and nerves fluttering up and down my body.
We’re far too close. He’s so close to me I can feel his heat radiating from him in animal waves. It makes me want to run so I can get away from these confusing emotions.
I think about what I said to Dad, about going to the police. Surely that would be the right thing to do.
“Your business…” I grit my teeth and glare up at him. “What about my life? What about my future? What about my dad’s life? I’ve got every right to ask about your precious business after what you’re putting us through.”
I expect him to snap again, but his expression becomes neutral. Only his eyes swirl with darkness, as if he’s getting ready to launch into a furious response.