AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Did this guy have magical powers? Magical pheromones, maybe?
“Well, that probably could’ve gone a little smoother.” He chuckled while holding me against his firm body.
All I could produce was some sort of groan combined with a whimper. The sound was so pitiful, he leaned back a bit without breaking our embrace to assess my face.
“Don’t cry, baby,” he whispered sweetly and stroked some stray hair back from my face.
“I don’t cry,” I declared with an edge.
“Ever?”
“Pretty much. It’s just another thing about me that’s broken,” I admitted with a shrug. Even when I was a child, my mother said I rarely shed tears. There were times I really wished I could or did. It seemed to make a lot of people feel better to express feelings so deep. But it just was a gene that skipped me, apparently.
“Not even over a lost pet?” Carmen continued in disbelief.
“I’ve never had a pet.”
“Whaaaat?” He dramatically dragged the single syllable over a few beats.
“My mom said she had her hands full with humans; she didn’t need to deal with animals too. Hannah was heartsick about it for most of her childhood. To this day, she hasn’t forgiven my mother for the childhood scar.” I forced a laugh.
The fact that Hannah had to deal with so much trauma from her childhood wasn’t funny. At all. The part that earned the chuckle was Carmen’s reaction and how it was the exact reaction I got from everyone I told the story to.
Maybe sensing the topic was deeper than my glib attitude toward it would pretend, Carmen changed the subject.
“Let’s unpack. That way you’ll know where to start for the move.”
“Listen…” I flopped down on my bed, then quickly scrambled back to sit against the headboard.
“May I join you?” my tall guy asked while standing on the other side of the mattress.
“Sure.” I sighed. “Why not?” Christ, I was tired. The stress from this ridiculous fuck-up was starting to wear me down.
Carmen made an enormous production about getting situated on the bed beside me. Propping pillows and folding the covers back at a perfectly straight crease, he uncovered my journal where it was normally stowed beneath a throw pillow.
“Well…” He waggled his eyebrows at me, and I burst out laughing at the silly expression. “What do we have here, Storm?”
“Give it,” I ordered in the most serious tone and held out my hand.
“Nope. I don’t think so,” he teased as I scurried up to kneel on the bed in front of him.
He held the small, blue, linen-covered book over his head so I couldn’t reach it.
That little bound pile of pages held every single secret I kept inside, in the most private places I guarded with my existence. There were comments and stories and factoids that absolutely no one else knew about me—and never would if it were up to me. If that journal landed in the wrong hands, I probably would never leave the house again. I’d die of humiliation.
With a glare filled with every ounce of seriousness I was capable of, I issued a warning. “That would be an unforgivable breach of my privacy. Let that be known now.” It was a fact that would never change, no matter what degree of closeness our relationship possessed.
“I’ll trade you,” he offered confidently. I probably exposed way too many cards with my threat and death stare, but he had me backed into a corner and knew it. At my crossed arms, he added, “You’re really at the disadvantage here.”
“I will never forgive you for this…” I trailed off, sensing his steadfastness.
“Take the deal I’m about to offer, Storm.” He gave a cocky grin that reminded me so much of his boss, it was uncanny. After a cool shrug, he said, “Then you can have it back.”
Nothing more than a wicked stare from my position directly in front of him. If I said one more thing, an emotional meltdown that was hovering just beneath the surface would crest. Not tears and blubbering like other girls, though. My freak-outs included yelling and throwing things—and breaking items if necessary.
Slowly, he closed the space between us and pressed his lips to mine. While still in contact with my lips, he quietly bargained, “Give me a year.”
I didn’t react. I couldn’t. I was in a washing machine of feelings, and the spin cycle started the moment he closed that distance between our bodies. While he was so close, I could feel his body heat in intoxicating pulses. I’d agree to anything he wanted right now. I knew it. He knew it. And the bastard played dirty to get what he wanted.
