Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Except I'm not there anymore. This isn't the musty, dirty room with peeling wallpaper I've spent the last two months in. This room is massive and modern, with dark, masculine furniture. The bed isn't lumpy and uncomfortable, nor is the blanket thin and scratchy.
"You're in my bed, starlight."
I startle at the sound of Constantine's voice floating from the shadows on the far side of the room. I turn my head to find him leaning against the wall near the door, watching me with those gorgeous eyes of his. He looks exhausted.
"Hi," I whisper, my heart pounding. "I'm at your house?"
"Yes. In my bed."
Is it my imagination or do his eyes seem to glow when he says it?
He pushes away from the wall, striding toward me. For someone so big, he moves silently, like a natural predator. He squats beside the bed, his gaze running over me. "You didn't sleep long, Aurora. It's still early."
"Did you sleep at all?"
"No."
"Oh. Why not?"
His lips quirk up into that smile again. The one that makes my heart race a little faster. Can he hear it? Does he have any idea how freaking beautiful he is when he smiles? "I promised to ensure you were safe."
Something soft and warm shoots through me, relaxing knots in my muscles. I make an instant decision and flip the covers back, silently inviting him into the bed with me.
"I'm fine, starlight."
"No, you aren't. I can tell how tired you are," I disagree.
"Are you always so stubborn?"
"Are you?"
"Always."
"Me too."
He rewards me with another of those smiles. They come easy to him, as if he smiles often.
"It's your bed, Constantine. If you stay on your side, we can share it for a little while." If I were decent, I'd offer to go sleep in a guest room and give him back his room, but I'm quickly coming to learn that maybe I'm not so decent when it comes to him. I want him close, not because he makes me feel safe but because he makes me feel like a livewire shooting off sparks.
"You don't have to share the bed with me, Aurora. I'm fine."
"I like having you close," I blurt. My teeth sink into my bottom lip, anxiety churning through me. "You make me feel."
"Feel what, starlight?"
"A lot," I whisper, swallowing hard. "You make me feel…a lot."
His eyes glow again, heat simmering in them as he stares at me in complete silence. He doesn't say anything else, but he pulls his shirt off over his head.
My eyes fall to his torso. Tattoos litter his bronze skin. A demon with horns and malevolent eyes blazes from the center of his chest. Three words are inked in scroll right about the tattoo.
"God loves ugly," I read aloud. "What does that mean?"
"It means that, once upon a time, I believed I could be saved."
"You don't anymore?"
He shrugs, striding around the opposite side of the bed.
I sit with this in silence for a moment, processing. I try not to stare at him, but it's hard not to do so. He may think his soul is ugly, but the rest of him certainly doesn't match.
"Once upon a time, I thought I'd die in that room," I finally say. "If I got out of hell, I'm thinking the man who carried me out can find his way into heaven."
His lips quirk into a smile as he paces toward the bed before sliding in on the far side. "I'll stay on my side, starlight."
I wish he wouldn't. I start to tell him that, but don't. What would he say if I did? Just a few short hours ago, I was locked in a bedroom, guarded by a monster. Surely it isn't normal to ache to be held by a stranger now. And yet I do ache to feel this man's arms around me. To fall asleep to something other than the sounds of abrasive, raucous laughter floating up from the floor below for once.
We lay in silence for an eternity before Constantine curses. A second later, the bed dips as he shifts abruptly. Before I can ask what's wrong, he's dragging me across the bed into his arms.
"I won't hurt you," he promises. "Just don't like how small and alone you look over there by yourself."
"Okay." I worry my bottom lip between my teeth before the truth comes tumbling out. "I wanted to ask, but…it's probably not normal, is it? To ask a stranger to hold me after everything, I mean."
"I'm not a stranger, starlight." He shifts us until he's able to tip my head up to look at him. We're so close, his lips are inches from mine, his eyes boring into me. "I'm the man who'd kill to protect you."
"You would, wouldn't you?"
"Without hesitation."
"How many people have you killed?"
"I stopped counting a long time ago."
"Oh."
"Does that frighten you?"