Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
I watch as a pink hue rises in her face, and it fascinates me. My mate is beautiful. I reach out to drag the pad of my thumb against her cheek. Grace looks at me before taking a step back. The simple movement makes me sad, but I shake it off. It’s going to take time to get her to let me in. “I…uh…think you’re sweet. It’s just…”
“Just?”
“I don’t really know you. Like, I don’t know your last name. What is it?”
“My l-last name?”
“Yeah. We’re supposed to get married, but I don’t even know your last name.”
“I don’t suppose you do,” I admit.
“Are you going to tell me?”
“Seven,” I answer, unable to tell her anything but the truth. I’ve lied to her enough. “My name is Seven, Gracie.”
“Seven.”
I barely keep from groaning, my cock presses against my jeans, swollen, hungry for my mate. I bite back my need, knowing that even if we were alone, now is not the time.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s unusual,” she hedges.
“Yeah…”
“I do like it. It suits you.”
“Not… harsh?”
“I think I said severe, but no, it’s unusual and a little mysterious. It suits you.”
“Do you like mysterious men, Gracie?”
“I like you,” she confesses, her blush deepening.
It’s just three words but I drink them in. They become part of me. I lean in and for once she doesn’t step back. Instead, I hear her intake of breath, feel her body quiver against mine, and breathe her sweet scent in as I kiss her gently, reverently, and full of love. Can she feel the emotion in the kiss?
God, hope you do, Grace. I hope you can feel how much I care for you.
“I know,” she utters as we pull apart.
She’s smiling so I know that she has no idea that I spoke to her mind. Hell, I didn’t even know I did it until she responded. I really need to be more careful around her. I can’t seem to control myself.
“You do?” I ask, clearing my throat.
“Of course, I mean, we are getting married, right?”
“Right,” I answer with a nod.
“You must have cared for me, or you would never have asked me to marry you. It’s just…”
She drops her head down. I find myself putting my index finger under her chin and pulling it back up so that I can see her beautiful eyes. “Just what, Gracie.”
“I think I’m starting to see why I liked you calling me Gracie,” she reveals instead of answering me. “When you drop your voice down like that and say it… it feels like you’re touching me.”
My eyes close from the pleasure her confession gives me. I’m barely able to stop my entire body from shuddering with hunger. I want her so much that I don’t have words to express it. “Then, I’ll definitely keep saying it,” I respond and even I can hear the need in my voice. I hope to hell that I don’t scare her. The last thing I want is for her to run from me—that’s what started this mess to begin with. “So, tell me what’s bothering you about us getting married?”
Saying that out loud brings mixed emotions. Until Grace remembers her past and truly opens her heart to me there’s not much I can do about this flood of guilt that I seem to be swimming in. All I can do is pray that I touch her heart before she gets her memories back. I need to find a way to make her love me. I have to.
“It’s not that something is bothering me—well, not completely.”
“Then, tell me what it is.”
Her face scrunches up and she reaches up to adjust her thick, black framed glasses. She wears contacts sometimes, but I admit her glasses are my favorite. I don’t even know why. I just know she’s sexy as hell in them.
“I’m not sure this is the place to have this conversation. Plus, you’re going to be late. You said you had a meeting.”
“I have time to talk to my ma—woman.”
“Your woman?” she repeats with a small smile on her lips.
“Never doubt that. Never. We were made for each other.”
“How do you know?” she questions, her voice so soft that if I didn’t have the hearing my powers give me, I might have had trouble hearing her.
I flatten my hand out and hold it in front of her. “Put your hand on mine, Gracie.”
She rubs her lips together, moistening them, but slowly does as I ask.
“Do you feel that heat, sweetheart? The energy between us?”
Her perfect white teeth bite down on her bottom lip, and she nods cautiously, her eyes never leaving mine. “Yes.”
“I want you to notice that it doesn’t happen with anyone else. It’s just us. It’s the attraction between us, the need we stir in one another.”
“I can’t remember you, Seven.”
My heart squeezes in my damn chest when she uses my real name. It may seem like a silly thing, but it feels huge to me. It feels… right.