Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Those sinewy muscles bunched as he stalled out.
Hesitation blowing through him like the howl of the wind.
Even though he wouldn’t give me any details, we both knew what was coming.
I’d either be dead, perish to whatever secret he was keeping, or I’d be right back in the same place.
By myself.
Fighting.
Fighting for Dereck.
Fighting to protect myself.
Fighting to survive.
Except something had to change. It was time. I couldn’t keep doing this with Dereck, even though the thought of disappointing my mother destroyed me.
I couldn’t keep allowing him to ruin my life again and again.
That was if he didn’t…
I crushed the thought in its tracks. I refused to even contemplate it.
“I don’t know, Brinley, but I can’t seem to stop.”
The fingers that had been slipping along my cheek slid into my hair.
Fisting into the locks as his nose ran the length of my opposite jaw.
Flames tore through my body.
“If we don’t stop, I’m pretty sure it will destroy us both,” I rasped.
“Probably,” he grunted. “But I think it might be worth it.”
Worth it.
“I think I’ve been hurt enough.” It was a shaky defense.
His hand in my hair slipped down until he was holding me by the front of the neck.
Need flooded my veins, as well as a flicker of the old terror that worked to hold me back.
A prisoner.
Was that what I was always going to be?
His mouth pressed close to my jaw. Voice drenched in chaos. “And I’m the fool who wants to take away your pain.”
“I don’t know if there’s anyone who can do that,” I wheezed. I shouldn’t have released it. It sounded far too much like an admission.
“And I’m nothing but the selfish bastard who wants to try. Not supposed to touch you. Can’t touch you…” He murmured the roughened words up and down my jaw.
Trembles rolled and the desire that I’d been battling broke free.
Making me gasp as he let his lips come close to my mouth.
“Doesn’t stop the way I want to, though, does it?” he rumbled. “Way I want to peel you apart, layer by layer, then be the one to piece you back together?”
“I’m not broken.”
But clearly, I was begging to be with the way I leaned farther into his hold.
Because I wanted to feel.
I wanted to feel something different than I’d been subjected to for so long.
I was tired of the cold and the vacancy.
And whenever Silas entered the room? I felt alive.
“Nah, baby, you aren’t close to being broken. You’re a force. A storm. A Wildfire. And I want to burn. Even though doing it might prove to be the death of me.”
“And I’m ready to live.” It was a whisper. A secret. Maybe one I was trying to claim for myself.
“Gonna see to it that you will,” he murmured before he reached over to peel the foil from the plate.
Once again, he commanded, “Eat.”
I nearly choked over a laugh when I saw it was breakfast dessert.
Okay, dessert concealed as breakfast.
A mountain of pancakes piled high with cherries and whipped cream.
Silas dug his finger into the cherries and cream and brought it to my lips.
Stupid, foolish girl, sucking it into my mouth.
He slowly pulled it out, then he walked away, muttering, “Fuckin’ Wildfire. What are you doing to me?”
Funny how I thought I couldn’t eat another bite, and I’d scarfed down the entire plate.
But with the realization that it was time for me to make a change, I decided to go ahead and take a little of the good.
That good might have made me feel like I was going to burst, but it was worth it.
A strange satisfaction glided through me as I sat there an hour later, making a dent in the stack of invoices.
I should have been off kilter after the earlier interaction with Silas, the way it felt like we were on the brink of a catastrophic explosion, but it was an easy smile climbing to my face when the main door swung open to the lobby.
Probably a smidge too peppy as I stood to welcome the customer.
A man strode through before the glinting glass pane drifted shut behind him.
He looked simple.
Innocuous.
Safe enough.
But the blood drained from my head and my limbs went weak as recognition bowled me over.
It was the same guy from the drugstore parking lot.
Terror bubbled up to the surface, and nausea twisted my stomach into painful knots.
My attention darted in every direction, trying to gauge the best escape route.
Could I make it to the shop doors before he got to me? Did Silas have any clue that he was there?
He cocked an easy grin with a tilt of his chin, casual enough to suggest that he was only there to request a simple oil change.
But it was the gleam in his eye that told me he was there for devious things.
Fear clutched, and I tried to swallow. To stand my ground and not let this asshole know I was shaking.