AllFreeNovel
Share Us
BLAKE
Ari’s car pulled up to the front of the restaurant and he got out and raced to my side to open the door for me. My cheeks flushed as I stared up at him, his warm breath brushing against my ear.
"I'm taking you back to my place. Don’t try and say no," he murmured, his voice low and husky. Lust spiked in my veins at his words, and the world took on a sparkly edge.
"Okay," I managed to say, my voice barely above a whisper. I wanted to go. I’d been thinking about it for my entire shift. Waldo was at the pet sitter anyway, because I hated leaving him alone while I was at work and…
We weren’t alone last night. Clark had been there in the room, whether we wanted to believe it or not.
Tonight there weren’t any ghosts.
Tonight…there was just us.
There was something about the way he looked at me, the intensity in his gaze…he was hungry for me. Desperate.
And I couldn’t wait to feed him.
He buckled my seatbelt, rubbing his nose against mine.
“I missed you,” he said. And there was an ache in his voice.
The same ache that I’d felt as soon as he’d walked out of the restaurant. The one still there even after I realized he was just across the street.
I missed him.
It seemed absurd, irrational, to ache for someone's presence so intensely, especially when we were still only getting to know each other.
But that's exactly what I felt.
My heart seemed to have already memorized the cadence of his laughter, the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled…the warmth of his touch. We were two souls inexplicably drawn together, like magnets pulled by a force greater than ourselves.
It was as if my soul recognized him. As if we'd met before in another life, in another time. I couldn't explain it, but there was an unshakable feeling that our destinies were intertwined, that our connection went far beyond now.
Ari got in the car and took my hand, settling it on the gearshift while he drove.
As Ari's car glided through the night, enchanting anticipation hung in the air, shimmering like a thousand stars in the velvet sky. The engine's purr seemed to serenade us, the gentle rhythm of the tires against the road a soothing melody that underscored the emotions hovering there between us.
My heart was dancing in my chest, not exactly nervous anticipation…more like happiness.
Was that what this felt like?
I couldn’t remember feeling it before.
I stole glances at Ari, his gorgeous features bathed in the soft, ambient glow of the car's interior. He kept looking at me too. With a beguiled, mesmerized look in his green eyes every time.
Ari Lancaster thinks he’s lucky to have me.
And until he figured out otherwise, I was going to enjoy the moment. Because no one else in my life had ever made me feel like more than a favor. After Clark had saved me, I’d seen it sometimes, like he felt he was this good guy for sticking around, for hanging on despite all my issues.
And honestly, that look in itself made me want to die.
Because he hadn’t even known half of the issues I really had, the demons always floating around in my mind.
“Don’t go anywhere in that pretty head,” Ari murmured, showing that he knew me better than anyone else ever had somehow. “It’s just me and you now, sunshine. And this thing between us is so big, there’s never going to be room for anyone else.”
“How do you do that?” I sighed, finally dragging my gaze away from him. “How do you see me like that?”
He chuckled to himself and shook his head. ““You’re all I see, Blake. I feel like I’ve been looking for you my whole life.”
