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)
Calm.
The word strikes me like a lightning bolt.
My gaze drops to her mouth before I can stop it, taking in the soft curve of her lips and the way her breath catches slightly between words.
And something low and instinctive pulls tight in my chest.
Mine. Romy Spencer is mine.
The urge to close the distance between us is immediate and fucking overwhelming. My body already leans forward before my mind catches up, before I remember where we are. Before I remember what this is.
I force myself still, dragging in a slow breath and anchoring my hands at my sides so I don’t reach for her.
“There’s a reason I went to the bathroom when I did,” I say. “A reason I came here even though it’s expressly forbidden and scaled the wall to get up here. There’s a reason. A reason so much bigger than I’ve ever understood before now. A reason bigger than me or you or the people on this estate who think they’re above it.”
“Cal.” My eyes shutter as the voice in front of me shifts to another inside my head. Romy’s lips don’t move because she’s not said a word. Intrusively, Kane repeats my name. “Cal. Can you hear me?”
I open my mind to Rook, my thoughts preemptively loaded with annoyance and their shit timing, and his answer is to chuckle loudly.
“Oh, man,” Kane interjects. “You made Rook laugh. Like, really laugh. I can only fucking imagine what you must be thinking.”
“Cal?” Romy asks, confused by the distant haze of my eyes and stagnation of our conversation.
“Sorry,” I apologize, shutting Rook out of my mind immediately.
“Hey, what the fuck? Why the hell are you shutting us out?” Kane complains, but I ignore him.
“I’m sorry. Did you ask me something?” Romy is my only focus right now. Every minute I spend in this room and not in my château is a risk to both of us. As much as I wish we did, we don’t have a lot of time.
“I asked if you’re okay with what’s happening here?” she questions. “Because I want to believe you’re the guy I used to know, and I want to believe that there’s some kind of magical, romantic fate that’s pulling us together as…mates, but I am so busy freaking the hell out about this…place and the way they’re—”
“I hate this place,” I say, cutting her off gently. My voice rumbles with the gravel of all the bullshit that’s brought us here. “This tradition. I hate it with every physical fiber of my being and the theoretical beyond. Romy, I promise you…I would never, ever be here if I didn’t have to be. And I want to explain that to you in detail, to put your mind at ease in any way I can, but I can’t right now because there are too many variables and too many risks.” I sigh. “I know it’s selfish and demanding. But I need you to trust me blindly. I need you to feel this thing between us and give in to it if you can. I need you—”
“I…I will. I do. Trust you.”
I freeze, overwhelmed by her unexpected submission and how wholly it touches me.
“Maybe it’s naïve of me,” she continues, “or maybe I’m just out of options, but Cal…seeing you in that hall tonight gave me the first full breath I’ve had in forty-eight hours. Hell, probably the first full breath I’ve had in years. And seeing you here, in my room, is the best I’ve felt in a long time. I don’t understand it, but given the alternative, I don’t need to.” She shrugs. “I’m going all in on my instincts. For the guy I had a crush on when we were kids. I’m going all in for the guy who says he’d kill someone for me, all in on the kind of romance I never thought I’d get, and all in for one last chance to ruin my mother’s day. Because let me tell you, she is going to hate this.”
Without thought or pause or restraint or the ability to hold myself back anymore, I lean forward and kiss her.
It’s a slow, closed-mouth kiss until she finds my neck with her hands and squeezes, and then I can’t help but breach the seam of her lips with my tongue and take a full taste.
She’s shooting stars and the lunar eclipse and validation for all the risks I’ve taken to get here. She’s strawberries and sweet cream, and memories of a childhood in a parallel universe. She’s the answer to my questions and the reason I don’t ask why and, despite not knowing how badly I needed it, she’s the renewed fire under my ass to take this place apart one fucking screw at a time.
When I pull back, there’s only one word left to say. “Fuck.”