Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
When I came to my senses, I’d be right back in that place where the demons and monsters reigned.
Where my fears consumed.
I needed to get back to what I knew.
Tucked safely in the place where I was okay to forever be alone.
Where no one could touch me or harm me or ruin me.
My hands started to shake.
Anxiety roiling through me and turning into panic.
My throat thick and my sight bleary.
Oh, God, I was going to have an attack right in front of them.
“Hey,” Raven whispered. “Are you okay? I’m sorry if we pushed you too far.”
She let go of a self-deprecating laugh as she glanced at Charleigh. “We have a way of tossing out whatever hits our tongues without thought, even when our new bestie isn’t quite ready for all our crazy yet.”
She nudged me with her elbow, fully tender, her voice thick.
“Yeah.” Charleigh set a soft hand on my forearm. “I didn’t know what hit me when I first met her. This one chased me down and demanded I was going to be her friend all while coercing me into coming to a festival that I most definitely didn’t want to attend, going so far as to threaten kidnapping. And apparently, I have now become just as bad as her.”
It was fully a tease.
Though in it was understanding.
A gentle encouragement.
As if I was in the same position as she’d been.
“Don’t judge me,” Raven told her with a wry smirk. “I was only using that psychic that absolutely affirmed you belonged with us.”
Then she turned her gaze on me. “I’m thinking you might, too, and I’m thinking you’re definitely not ready to hear that yet, but I’m going to say it, anyway. I can feel how lonely you are.”
That loneliness throbbed.
My head barely shook. “You know I’m not staying here. This isn’t where my family is. It isn’t where my home is.”
My family that was being pared down and torn apart.
Charleigh’s hand clamped down tighter on my arm, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “I don’t know…I think there’s something magical about this town. I think it calls to those who are supposed to come here. Reaches out when we’re lost and guides us where we’re destined to be.”
She turned her attention to Nolan who chased Maci across the lawn. “I think my very wise son has always said it best. Family is who you love most, and from my perspective? Home will always, always be with those you love.”
I had no clue how she could claim something like that.
As if it were that easy.
As if I was somehow part of that.
I knew there was no chance, but that didn’t mean everything didn’t quake when my gaze was drawn back out into the yard.
To Kane who strode our way.
I swore, the ground rumbled beneath his feet with each step that he took.
Stride easy and confident as he crossed the lawn, only there was something so decidedly concerned in his expression that for one foolish second, I thought I could be a part of it.
This was a man I’d all but hated when I’d found out who he was.
A man who set off every alarm bell.
Dangerous and brash.
The father of my niece.
The man who’d all but promised he was taking her away.
I had three weeks left.
Three weeks.
And all it took was him stalking up the porch steps to make my belly quiver.
“Ah, why does it look like you all are up to no good?” He might have said it like he was joking, but those intense eyes never left mine.
Searching.
As if he were…worried.
As if he’d noticed my moment’s distress and had come to check that I was okay.
“Us, trouble?” Raven challenged. “Have you ever once looked in the mirror, Kane Asher?”
He chuckled an easy sound, and he ran one of those tatted hands through his warm brown hair that glistened a thousand shades of gold beneath the fading sun. “Who me? I’m as innocent as could be.”
There was nothing innocent about him.
He was a vortex.
Gravity.
A magnetism impossible to resist.
“Are you two taking care of my girl?”
His girl? I nearly choked.
Raven rolled her eyes. “Your girl? I think not. I found her first, fair and square, outside of my shop last Saturday morning.”
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, Raven, I definitely found her first.” The emerald of Kane’s eyes sparked. A searing of heat and possession.
His mind so clearly on that first night.
I squirmed.
God, what was wrong with me?
“Which means she’s mine.” There was no missing the fact his words dripped with sex.
He reached out like he was going to touch me right before Nolan came stampeding up the steps. “No way, Uncle Kane! I already called her, and I’m the team captain, and you can’t go stealin’ because stealin’ is bad.”
My attention whipped up, confused by what was happening.
“And I already called my Mr. Kane!” Maci was right on Nolan’s heels.