Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Shit!
As Calloway Slater’s features come into focus, I smother the rest of my outburst with a hand over my mouth on sheer instinct, and I fight against an actively panicking heart.
The damage is already done, however. A scream during quiet hours isn’t the kind of thing these vampires are going to shrug off, I imagine.
“Hey!” my guard yells. “What’s going on in there?”
Shit, shit, shit. If they find me over here with the cabinet moved and my window open, I don’t even want to think about what they’ll do or where they’ll move me instead.
Three harsh knocks ring out from my door, and with no other option, I run over to it on fast feet.
Taking a deep breath and steeling my nerves, I pull it open just enough to peek my head out and immediately start apologizing. “Sorry. So sorry. I was reading and fell asleep and went straight into a nightmare where I was falling off a cliff after being shoved! Then there was a…a train in the ocean…headed right for me…and holy hell, it blared its horn and I screamed, but I was actually awake then, and the next thing I know, I’m sitting up in bed screaming and you’re knocking.”
My guard’s eyebrows draw together as he works to follow my nonsense.
“A nightmare?” he eventually asks.
“Yes. It was awful. But I’m good now, so you can lock me back up and go back to keeping guard out here.”
“Maybe I’ll just come in—”
“No!” I’m quick to cut him off. “I’m very sloppy, and I have underwear and private things all over the place. No.” Calming myself slightly, I tone my voice to something less commanding. I doubt my guard likes a woman trying to tell him what to do either. “No. Thank you. You don’t need to come in. I’m good, I swear. No more screams.”
When he doesn’t close it immediately, I pull it out of his grip and do it for him, turning the lock on the inside of the knob for good measure. I know he has a key, and that no silly lock on my side of the door is going to keep my vampire guard out of my room if he wants in it anyway, but it’s more about the symbolism than anything else.
I wait five full seconds after I’m done, my ear pressed against the wood to listen for more movement on his end, but when I don’t hear anything, I run straight back to the window and jump into action to figure out how to get it open.
In addition to the latch, there’s another lock at the side, but I engage my spidey-moves and climb the edge of the armoire with sweaty feet to reach it.
Shoving from the bottom as hard as I can to break the dried-over paint, I jump when Cal’s face invades mine. “Back up,” he whispers, pushing me gently.
This isn’t the worried, timid Cal I saw tonight in the hallway. This is a man on a mission.
What the mission is, I fear I don’t know.
When he’s through the opening, I scurry back, leaning out into the breeze to get a look at the surroundings, expecting to find a ladder or a trellis or something. But all I find is open space and the textured stone of the side of the building.
No stairs. No rope. No tied-together bedsheets or the like, and absolutely none of the other escape-scenario tools I imagined.
“How the hell did you get up here?” I ask incredulously.
Cal moves me out of the way before closing the window with a finger to his lips—a warning to lower my voice, no doubt—and the burn of his hands on my arms lingers long after he lets go.
When I stare at my skin to see if there’s an accompanying glow, I catch sight of the peak of my nipples, and my very braless state comes roaring back into focus. I cross my arms over my chest self-consciously and squeeze my thighs together to limit the very noticeable flow of air.
Suddenly, the big T-shirt and panties as sleep attire is feeling a little vulnerable.
Cal’s figure cuts an imposing shadow as he scans the room around us, getting a feel for the layout and assuring himself it’s just him and me alone. His jaw is carved in hard lines, and his eyes look wildly blue even in the dim light of the deep green walls.
When his harsh gaze cuts to me, my whole chest expands.
He doesn’t look like he’s dropped by for a friendly visit—he looks consumed. For the first time since he appeared at my window, I have the good sense to be scared of him.
I want to believe he’s here as some sort of knight in shining armor, but the truth is, he could just as easily be here to hurt me.