Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Walker snatched the shot glass out of my hand and downed it, then his previously hard face broke into a full-blown, affable grin. “It’s stuffy in here,” he said loudly. “Wanna find somewhere a little more comfortable?”
I nodded. I really did. Suddenly I felt really hot, and the air was too close with so many bodies in here and no breeze.
Everything had started moving a little slower too. But too fast at the same time. The couples and groupings around us were gathering together, limbs and bodies intertwining. No one paid us any mind as Walker grasped my hand and all but dragged me through the room.
The music seemed louder as we went. It was like I could feel every strike of the violinist’s bow against the instruments. The vibrations hit me and reverberated in my chest, then rippled through my muscles.
I blinked rapidly. Whoa, I’d never felt an instrument like that before. I paused to focus on the sensation but the pressure on my hand tugged me forwards. “Walker, look!” I whispered. Because suddenly I could see the music too. It was colors dancing around the white ballroom!
But he just yanked me forwards. I followed as the figures around me started to flow like fishes underwater. The next second I blinked, and I was in the ballroom again, lights bright, so marvelously bright. My eyes rolled upwards as we passed underneath the gaslit chandelier and my mouth dropped open in wonder at the sparkling. The lights were dancing like little tiny fairies.
My feet moved on instinct to follow. Follow, follow. Then I frowned. Wait. Who was I following? My eyes traveled down the length of my arm, to the hand enveloping mine, then up the tuxedo clad arm to—Walker! Of course, Walker!
I wanted to touch Walker. That was why I came here. I wanted to touch Walker. And to prove I didn’t just let my mother plan my every move. I would show him I wasn’t just Sully’s little sister. He certainly didn’t think I was a little girl last night when he—
I gasped as Walker pushed through a door and then we were outside. It was dark, but warmer than inside. It was hot and humid. Gardenias on the breeze caressed my face. I inhaled and threw my head back as the wind toyed with my hair.
But I only had a moment to relish it because then the pressure on my hand was dragging me forwards again. I opened my eyes as I stumbled forwards. Walker’s arm wrapped around my waist, and I liked that. The pressure of his arm, the smell of his aftershave—
I turned in towards him and nuzzled his neck. The rough scrape of his five o’clock shadow made me groan and blink in surprise as other parts of my body woke up.
“God, Jas, you’re fucking killing me. Don’t make me pick your ass up and carry you. Once this shit hits me I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold myself back, and we’re still trying to protect you here.”
Right, right, I thought distractedly, no one could know who I was. I continued forward but turned entirely towards him, one arm up around his shoulders so I could play with his hair at the back of his neck. It was so soft, but a little bristly too, and then the skin at his neck! The change in texture was so fabulously complex—like his skin. Soft too, but in a completely different way.
We walked for what felt like forever and I was going to drop to the ground because moving was starting to be too difficult. I needed to stop. Definitely needed to stop. There was so much to look at. To feel. To BE.
Oh my God, the world was so fucking beautiful.
I looked over at Walker, needing to share this with him, needing him to see it too, but he’d stopped beside me.
He stood still, just staring out at the lake. The lake! He’d brought us to the lake! I’d always heard about the famed lake at the Oleander but now I was seeing it.
The surface of the lake glittered like thousands of little diamonds twinkling in and out of existence.
“Stars!” I whispered in awe, reaching out my hand towards the lake. “Look, they’re dancing!”
Walker chuckled from beside me, coming back to life. “Almost. It’s the full moon reflected in the ripples.”
“The moon?”
He stepped close and then directed my head to dip backwards. If he wasn’t behind me to hold me up, I would have tipped over and fallen. He was there, though. And with him as a warm backdrop, I looked up and saw the moon like a blazing flashlight pointed right at me from the sky. I turned away from it, the light too bright, into Walker’s chest.
“Hey, hey,” he said. “You okay?”