Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
I swallowed. “It’s difficult. I knew it would be ugly, but these people are so…inhuman. I thought Tony was ruthless and callous, but they’re in a class of their own. Human life doesn’t matter to them—at all. Even those in his own circle, Orson has no problem getting rid of them once they’re of no use to him. I didn’t bank on how difficult it would be to show no emotion every single moment of the day.” I pulled her closer. “I had to come back to you, even if it was only for a few hours. I needed your sweetness, your light. I needed to hear you call me names and tease me.” I sighed into her hair. “I need you, Skylar, to remind me of who I am.”
Her mouth pressed against mine again. “You’re my Cian,” she whispered. “And I’ll be here whenever you need me.”
“Yours,” I agreed and reclaimed her mouth.
Moments later, I broke away, breathing deeply. Skylar smiled, brushing her fingers over my bottom lip. I pressed a kiss to the tips, holding them against my mouth for a moment. I sighed, knowing we couldn’t get carried away. I couldn’t stay, and we weren’t alone. A few rushed moments with her wasn’t what I wanted. Or what she deserved. Looking around, I noticed a drawing pad on the coffee table and a small palette of watercolors. I frowned, not recalling seeing them until now.
“What is this?” I asked, leaning forward and picking up the pad.
“Oh, um, Sean got it for me.” Sklyar twisted her fingers on her sleeve. “I asked him to.”
“You like to draw?”
“And paint. I’m not any good, but it helps pass the time.”
I sat up, flipping open the cover. For a few moments, the room was quiet aside from the turn of a page and Skylar’s nervous breathing. I stared in wonder at her sketches. The detail and shading. There was one watercolor. A scene from the window, plus additions of her imagination. The snow glistening in the sun. Children playing. A dog in the snow. Trees all around. Two figures on the porch, watching them.
I turned to her, meeting her anxious gaze. “Kitten, these are amazing. You are incredibly talented.”
She colored prettily, looking unsure.
“Is this us?” I asked quietly, tapping the figures on the porch.
“Yes.”
I traced the little figures and the dog. “Our future?” I asked.
“I hope so.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you liked to sketch or paint?”
“I painted a lot when my dad was ill. I sold pieces at the local arts and crafts place. It helped with the bills. I lost everything when I was robbed and was never able to replace them,” she explained. “I was sketching a little something, and Sean saw it. I told him how much I enjoyed it. He brought me all the stuff.”
I was grateful to Sean for seeing. Noticing. Giving her back something she loved.
“Paint more for me.”
“I will.”
I began to shut the book when a loose piece of the heavy paper fell out. I grabbed it before it could hit the floor and stared at it in shock.
It was a drawing of me. A me I hadn’t seen in years. I looked younger, happier. Content. I was smiling, the sketch appearing is if I was looking right at Skylar as she drew it.
“How?” I asked.
“That’s what you look like now when you look at me,” she whispered.
“You are a wonder,” I murmured. “And if that is what I look like, then you’re a miracle worker as well. That’s not what I see when I look in the mirror.”
She cupped my cheek. “You’re looking for Tony. All I see is Cian.” She smiled softly. “My Cian.”
“I am yours,” I agreed. “As long as you want me.”
“Then plan on me being with you for the next hundred years.”
I pulled her close and kissed her after placing the pad back on the table.
A hundred years.
I was good with that.
She sighed. “You’re not staying, are you?”
“No, I have to go back—I can be late, the manwhore I am, but I have to return tonight.”
A small giggle escaped her lips, and I pressed a kiss to her head, grateful that Tony had been exactly that. Sex had been his second-favorite release after killing people. “I’ll be gone for a while this time, Skylar. Longer than a few days.”
“Why?”
“We’re going to turn up the heat. I need to stay close and visible and be as…helpful as I can be.” I played with the edge of the blanket, my fingers moving restlessly. “I have to figure out who else is working against Orson. I want us to work together.”
“Can you?”
A dry laugh escaped my mouth. “I hope so. If I choose the wrong person, both Sean and I are dead.”
She moved closer. “Don’t say that. Please.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t want you to worry.”