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)
It’d been the only way I could survive.
To refuse and forget.
But there was no forgetting when I stood under the force of Logan’s eyes.
Tessa suddenly grabbed me by the hand, yanking me out of the void of despair I was sinking into. “Come dance with me!”
A smile forced its way to my mouth when she shimmied in front of me like she was seducing me onto the makeshift dance floor.
She twirled me around and around until I felt dizzy.
I laughed. Awkward at first, but then hard and free. My breaths were harsh, but they finally filled my aching lungs.
Tessa leaned in closer. “There, that’s better.”
A frown pulled to my brow. “What?”
“That smile. That’s the one I was looking for.” Her response was soft, knowing, and I wondered how it was possible that these people I’d known a handful of hours knew me better than anyone knew me back home.
That they saw through the barriers.
The veil.
“Mad love.” She shouted that above the music as she twirled me again. Another roll of laughter erupted.
Logan was suddenly there, big and towering, his jaw hard and his eyes soft. He glanced at Tessa. “I think it’s time I cut in.”
She pouted and gathered me in an overbearing hug. “What? No way. I just got to meet my new BFF and I’m keeping her forever.”
“Tessa.” He gruffed it with a slough of affection.
She pouted harder, pushing out her lips in a ridiculous way, then she laughed and pushed me in his direction. “Okay, fine, since it’s your birthday. But I love her and she’s mine, and if you screw this up, I will kick your ass.”
Logan grunted.
I tried not to laugh.
Tried not to cry.
Tried not to get crushed by the care of this family.
Everyone had taken me under their wing. They’d shown me their love and protection as if I were one of them. The problem was they had no idea even if I wanted to stay, even if Logan wanted me to, I couldn’t.
Thirty days.
Thirty days.
On top of that, I didn’t understand Logan. What he’d done, the choices he’d made, up against the fierce look in his eyes when the man took me by the hand.
Our hatred, our hurt, at odds with this twining of want there was no chance of escaping.
I felt it build as the man walked backward facing me as he pulled me out of the kitchen and into the living room where it was even more crammed with people.
The mood had gotten a little rowdy.
Voices raised and laughter flowing.
The music had been turned up a notch, enough that it covered the conversations and lifted everything to an elevated hum.
In the middle of the throng, Logan pulled me into his arms and crushed me against the hard, rippling planes of his body.
He had one arm banded around my waist. His other palm was splayed wide, gliding up my spine until he was slipping it under the fall of my hair. He took hold of the mass of it in a fist.
A surprised squeak whispered through my lips.
Strength vibrated through his body.
Chills skated across mine.
“Logan.” I didn’t mean to plead his name the way I did, but it was getting harder and harder not to beg for what every part of me wanted.
He grunted and somehow tucked me even closer. His voice was a rough scrape against my ear. “I’ve been waiting hours to get you alone like this.”
“Are you jealous?” There was no stopping the tease because the sulking woven in his voice was ridiculous.
Adorable and ridiculous.
This rigid, intimidating man who could be so goofy and sweet.
“Tessa was hogging you.”
“Hogging me?”
“Yes. Hogging.”
I glanced behind me then back to him. “Well, she is really pretty.”
“Aster.” His voice deepened to a growl. “Don’t make me punish you.”
His hand tightened in my hair, giving it a little yank to tug my face back to meet the warning in his gaze.
I giggled.
Clearly, I was losing it, letting go, getting caught up in the swell of giddiness that swept through my being.
“Are you laughing at me?” Logan grumbled.
“Maybe.”
Another giggle, only that one morphed into a needy moan when he pressed his face to the edge of my jaw. He ran his nose along the sensitive flesh, slipping up to my ear and back down to my chin.
Twice he did it, whispering, “You’re mine,” as he went.
It was a mind-altering caress.
One that made me forget what I was supposed to be fighting for. One that made me forget the danger and the risk and what was at stake.
One that made me sigh and press my face into his chest when he began to lead me in a gentle, slow sway.
We danced at half the beat of the music that played.
Like the song belonged to us.
This moment in time carved out for what might have been.
“Aster.” Logan muttered it like praise at the side of my head where he had his nose buried in my hair. “Never in a million years would I have thought two weeks ago that on my birthday I’d be given a gift such as this. Never thought I’d get to hold you again. Never thought I’d get to touch you again.”