Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
I make a face at the thought of falling for Hemmen or Arrod. “Does it?”
“I’m sure it’ll lead to love for you if that’s what you’re looking for.” He finishes his roll with the second bite and takes his mug in hand. “No one will be able to resist your charms for long.”
“I’m looking for a job, not to charm anyone,” I reply tartly. “Not every woman needs a man in her life.”
“Needs, no. Wants?” He shrugs. “If you want one, that’s different. If we were at your wedding next year, I wouldn’t be surprised. That’s all.”
“And who am I marrying in this fantasy of yours? Who am I spending tireless hours with? Arrod? Hemmen? I truly don’t think I’m Kipp’s type, so that rules him out.”
Our gazes meet, and it feels as if time slows.
I shouldn’t say it. Shouldn’t mucking say it.
“You?” I blurt out, even though I shouldn’t say it.
Raptor gives me a wry look. “Alas, my heart is spoken for. But if it wasn’t, you’d be irresistible to me, aye.”
I laugh and take a big drink of my wine, but I feel shredded on the inside. He’s spoken for? And I fucked him? Mucking hells. All five mucking hells. I’m a home-wrecker on top of everything else.
Fifteen
Raptor
Gwenna goes silent, and I hate that I’ve ruined the mood. Not that I should care, but I feel it all the same. It’s right that I tell her. She deserves to know that my heart is Sarya’s, and that our flirting can’t go anywhere. Even as I think it, I wonder if I’m a fool. If I’m far too hung up on a woman I met for only a brief moment in time and didn’t even get to look at.
And yet…I can’t stop thinking about her. Being with her just felt so right. Like I’d met the perfect woman, the one I’d always been meant to find. Perhaps that’s what makes it difficult to be around Gwenna. I get the same feeling when I’m around her. That if I’d let myself, I’d be utterly besotted by her tart tongue and her sparkling smile. That if I’d only met her first, it’d be a very different story.
I hate that realization.
Almost as much as I hate hurting her. She might be the thief, but she’s still a person I’m wildly attracted to, a person I like being around. A person who impresses me with her wit and intelligence. I change the subject, handing over the bowl of fruit I’ve brought along with me from the refreshment table. “Any more observations to share with me, my sharp-eyed female?”
She sets the bowl down between us to share, then pulls apart her roll with delicate fingers. Gwenna arches an eyebrow at me. “Why do you want to know?”
“Because I like hearing all the juicy details.” I shrug and pop a slice of peach into my mouth. “But more than that, I just like learning what you’ve observed.”
“Mmm.” She eats a fluffy bit of roll, her gaze moving to the dance floor and avoiding me. “Hemmen has bad dreams and talks in his sleep.”
“Interesting. I didn’t notice that.”
She shoots me a sharp look. “That’s because you sleep like the dead.”
Another observation, and a true one. I steal another slice of peach, because I love fruit. “Can I help it if I need my beauty rest?”
“I’m just saying, if we get robbed in the middle of the night, I’m not trying to wake you to save us. That’s all.”
Chuckling, I eye the roll she’s mangling. Is she imagining it as my neck? “I’ve noticed you never mention Kipp in your observations.”
“That’s because I like Kipp, and I’m not selling him out to you.”
“Is that what you think you’re doing? Selling them out to me?”
The side-eye she gives me is magnificent. “If Kipp has secrets, I’m keeping them. He’s earned my trust, and I’ve earned his.”
I prop an elbow on the table and lean in, my hand on my face. “And how do I earn your trust?”
“Didn’t know you wanted it.”
“I do. I like you.”
“Not enough to tell me that you’re married.”
“Oh, I’m not married. I wouldn’t be here at a wedding with another woman if I was. But I met a lady not too long ago who charmed me, and I’ve been looking for her ever since. And I thought we were friendly enough for me to point that out without hurting your feelings. Obviously, I was wrong, and I apologize. I wasn’t trying to make you feel foolish by withholding information.”
“I don’t feel foolish.” Her shoulders go up, her back straightening again. “I was just…surprised. You’re allowed to love whoever you like, and I shall be more than happy to come to the wedding.”
It’s my turn to feel awkward. “A wonderful thought, but I’m not certain that will happen anytime soon. I haven’t seen her in a while and…well, I doubt she thinks about me at all.”