Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
I ached that he was right there, so close I could touch him, though I knew how dangerous it would be if I did.
He leaned closer, his presence destroying all sense, his voice a rough scrape he released at my ear. “The fucking problem is I can’t seem to look away.”
A whimper crawled my throat and chills flashed across my skin.
He inclined closer. “Is that what you are, Aster? The devil? Here to tempt me? Lead me into sin?”
“Ironic since that’s what I’d always thought about you.”
When it’d come to Logan Lawson, I’d always done the exact opposite of what was expected of me.
His thumb caressed the length of my cheek, the hard, chiseled angle of his jaw clenched.
In restraint.
In disgust.
I couldn’t tell.
“Maybe because we both were born in the pits of Hell.” It left me like some kind of surrender. Or maybe it was an out for both of us. A reason for the pain.
He kept sweeping the pad of his thumb along my jaw.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
“We were supposed to escape it together.” That time, his words gritted with spite.
The bitterness I couldn’t seem to get over boiled inside. I almost demanded to know how much he’d sold the stones for. If he understood what it’d cost.
Instead, I let the resentment bleed out. “It seems like you’re doing pretty well for yourself to me.”
It was me who had been left behind.
I could hear the grinding of Logan’s teeth. “You don’t know anything about me.”
He was right.
I didn’t.
Not anymore.
All except for this connection that still felt so alive.
Except for the torment, the mischief, the loss, the sweetness that I saw play in his eyes.
He suddenly straightened and moved away from me so quickly that I stumbled forward a step, not even realizing I’d given myself over to his hold.
A shattered breath heaved from my lungs as he moved for the door, the man ignoring that every second of this push and pull was wrecking me.
“We need to go. My brothers will have my ass if I don’t show on time.”
“Both of them will be there?” I asked on a worried breath.
He chuckled out a rough sound. “What, are you scared?”
Um, his brothers were terrifying, but that didn’t have anything to do with it.
“Maybe it would be better if I stayed here.”
He was back to touching my face, his voice this low, growl of a promise that shook me to the core, even though it was clearly meant to be a tease. “Don’t worry, Aster, I’ll protect you. You keep forgetting I take care of what’s mine.”
Logan whipped his car into the parking lot of a—my head jerked around to read the sign—Christian elementary school.
I could feel the confusion claw its way across my face as my attention jumped back to Logan.
Seriously, what in the world was happening?
He didn’t even glance at me as he drove through the packed lot in search of an open spot, which by the looks of it, we were going to have to park along the street.
Apparently, most of Redemption Hills had shown for whatever this family thing was.
I’d thought it would maybe be a dinner. Or more than likely, a deal…the dirty kind dealt in dingy backrooms of seedy clubs or maybe in upscale basements like last night.
My chest squeezed as I watched the droves of families weave their way across the lot toward the main buildings, bundled in their jackets and scarves, their cheeks pinked and excitement filling their eyes.
Logan drove around the side of a building to another lot around back where he finally found an open spot tucked between a minivan and truck.
When he killed the engine, a swath of silence took over the cabin, and the man stared out the windshield at the flurries of snowflakes that fluttered from the darkened heavens.
Tension stretched thin.
Questions that swelled and taunted.
Old hopes and long-dead dreams.
It was insane being so uncomfortable with a man who had once been my refuge.
Finally, he glanced over at me, his tongue sweeping his lips in a rush of agitation, as if he’d just then thought better about bringing me here. “My niece and nephew have a dance performance to kick off the holiday season.”
It was December 2nd.
Clarity moved through my consciousness, this whole thing coming to make sense. Except for the part of why he’d brought me with him.
“Okay.” I stared at him, my response not quite a question but begging him to fill in the blanks.
“My family is the only thing that matters to me. Everything I do, I do for them. I will sacrifice anything for them. Reject anything that might bring them harm…or crush it before it has the chance.” A warning lit behind it. His chest vibrated like he was dealing with his own dread.
I knew his statement was his truth.
“I understand.”
“Do you?” That ferocity pierced me in the heart.