Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“Why not?” I tease, my eyes playful and wanton.
He points to me, taking a step back. “You’re dangerous.”
“Duh,” I laugh, and he grins. “You’re just now figuring this out?”
He only laughs, shutting the door and coming around the truck. When he gets in, he starts the truck before taking my hand in his, lacing our fingers. It seems so natural, holding my hand on his thigh as he drives. I feel unsteady, and I can’t help but take in his profile. His long lashes, his puffy lips, and the coarse hair along his jaw. I want to run my lips, my nose, my fingers, hell, every single inch of myself along that hair.
“So, where did you grow up?”
I laugh because the better question is where haven’t I lived. I explain that we moved around a lot, leaving out the reason. The truth is that once people realized a cult was in town, they chased us off or got the authorities involved, thinking we children were in danger. We were, but we knew better than to admit that to anyone. “Think Amish. That’s how I grew up.”
“So, no technology?”
I nod. “Exactly. When I’d go to the bigger towns near wherever we lived, I’d get on the internet, and I’d watch TV because I was rebellious.”
“You?” he teases. “Rebellious? I don’t believe it.”
I giggle as I squeeze his hand. “Yeah, yeah,” I laugh, shaking my head, and it surprises me how badly I want to tell him everything. I’m beyond embarrassed about my past, and I never want to talk about it, not even with my sisters. I wish to leave all that crap in the past. I don’t want to relive a moment of it. “I only had my sisters, and we only had the Bible to read, which, thinking back, I wonder if it was even the real version. I don’t know, but my sisters and I made up games. We would go into the fields and make flower crowns. I learned how to cook for big groups by the time I was ten. I know how to make butter from scratch, milk a goat, and I can sew my own clothes if I wanted to. But I don’t,” I add, and he nods.
“So, when the apocalypse comes, you’re on my team.”
I snort at that. “Oh, absolutely. You’ll be the best dressed, best fed, and most fully sexually sated male in the world.”
He grins devilishly at me. “Sexually sated, huh?”
“Oh, totally,” I giggle, grinning back. “Don’t know if you realize, but we could be in the smuttiest romance novel.”
He chuckles at that. “Oh damn, you figured me out. I’m testing all my ideas out on you for my own novel.”
Our laughter is better than the music playing. “Oh, I love that! Can I be in your dedication?”
He brings my hand to his lips. “You are the dedication, love.”
My toes curl, my stomach tightens, and I’m not a fan of this no-car-sex rule he has made. “Are we still not doing it in the truck?”
Ciaran’s laughter hits me square in the gut, but then his brows furrow. I look out the windshield, seeing the rink he has parked in front of isn’t lit and it’s obviously closed. “Well, shit,” he says, his voice laced with disappointment. “I didn’t realize they would be closed.”
There is not a single soul out here. “That sucks.”
“We could go to the arena—” He holds out his phone and then shakes his head. “Nope, too late.” He looks over at me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t plan this well.”
I wave him off. “It’s totally cool. We can plan this for another day.”
Ciaran’s eyes twinkle. “So, I get to see you another day?”
“I thought you said daily, hourly?” I tease, and he brings my hand up to his lips again.
He presses his lips to my knuckles. “I did. I wasn’t sure you’d still want that.”
“I do,” I confess, locked in his gaze. “There is no one out here if you want to ignore that no-sex-in-the-truck rule.”
He chuckles, but there is no humor to it. His eyes look sad. “I’m not a fan of hooking up in the car.”
“No? Need more room?”
He nods. “That, and it’s the only place Mikayla and I could do anything. She kind of ruined it for me.”
My stomach sinks, and I hate that for him. I slowly nod, my thumb moving along his. “Okay.”
“So—”
“Don’t you apologize,” I warn, holding his gaze. “But know that when you’re ready, I will eagerly make new memories with you in a car.”
CHAPTER 25
Ciaran
I’m in so much trouble.
Her words ignite every desire in my body, and soon, I lean toward her, meeting her lips to mine. I’m not ready, not even close, the story of Mikayla still heavy on my mind, but I can’t deny the need to do exactly what Lou is suggesting. To take her right here, accept the mind-blowing pleasure she’s offering me until I can’t remember the name of the girl who broke me so long ago, but I won’t. When I take Louisa in a car, it’ll be because I want to make new memories with her, not because I want to forget the bad ones. I owe her more than that. To use her to forget. I won’t do that. I care for her.