Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Yasmin once asked if I’d ever settle down. When I told her I wasn’t sure, she said maybe it was because I saw how disastrous her marriage was, and it turned me off.
But it has nothing to do with her. It’s just me, this lack of feeling, of wanting.
It makes it easier to switch off my emotions when they run at such a low volume most of the time, anyway.
“You must be Felix,” she says, spotting me as I approach. “Tyrone mentioned you’d be coming.”
I suppose my age gives it away, the color of my hair, my height, my build. To say I stand out in this room would be an understatement. Another reason arranging this at a party was such a foolish idea.
I’m not sure who Tyrone is. It’s how Mr. Red works, arranging things seemingly by magic.
But he’s not magic. He’s just a man who can’t force me to do anything. Nobody can.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I say after a pause. “Lexi, right?”
She touches her hair again. “Yeah, it’s awesome to meet you, too.”
As we stare somewhat awkwardly at each other, I reflect for the tenth time how foolish this is, how futile.
Lexi’s about to say something else when somebody approaches us from the bar.
I turn to find a woman standing there, two drinks in her hands, looking up at me with her eyes wide and innocent, stirring something in me, triggering something I’ve never felt and find hard to accept.
I gaze at her, with her wavy light brown hair, pale brown eyes to match, and full cheeks that are flushing slightly.
She’s wearing a lacy black sleeveless top and jeans, with short heels, highlighting the shape of her curvy body, her hips begging to be grabbed, and her thighs screaming to be squeezed.
But only by me.
She’s mine.
I almost laugh the thought away, but there’s nothing funny about this feeling, the sudden infusion of want, the slamming hunger inside of me.
There’s nothing funny about the thoughts entering my mind of a future with this young woman, her belly becoming even curvier when she swells with my child. She looks like she was made to give me the family I never knew I wanted.
No, not looks like.
She is.
She is mine.
My head is rushing. I can hardly think.
“Thanks,” Lexi says, taking a drink from the woman. “Felix, this is Freya, an up-and-coming tattooist. Freya, this is Felix. He owns a studio.”
We reach out to shake hands. Perhaps I imagine it, but I’m almost certain she makes a soft whimpering noise as we touch.
Or maybe it’s wishful thinking, a way to justify my growing hunger, the tornado ripping through me as I feel her soft, warm hand.
And then, when she takes her hand away, I see it.
Fuck.
It’s right there.
The butterfly on her wrist.
I stare, unable to believe it.
Her?
Why would anybody want this woman dead?
CHAPTER
THREE
Freya
I stare up at Felix, hoping he can’t tell how badly I want to throw myself at him.
He’s six and a half feet tall, if I had to guess, with wide shoulders and steel-colored hair. I never knew I liked the older-man thing before, and maybe I don’t, as a general rule.
All I know is this man, Felix makes it difficult to think.
His arms are huge and muscular in his shirt, the sleeves rolled up, letting me see the firmness of his forearms. His eyes are an icy, sharp blue, making me wonder if he’s silently laughing at me when paired with the subtle smirk on his lips.
“So you want to be a tattooist?” he says, in a gruff voice that seems to cut through all the hubbub of the party.
Or maybe it’s just how badly I want to hear his voice…and the utterly insane thoughts spiraling into my mind. Thoughts of this man wanting me the same way I want him, of him grabbing me right here, kissing me.
I’ve never experienced this. I wish Julie was here so I could ask her if it’s normal to want, no, need somebody this instantly, this hungrily.
But with so little experience with men, I’m not sure how to handle this.
He chuckles. “Shall I start with something easier?”
I take a step forward, ignoring the little high-school voice in my head, telling me I’ll make a fool of myself.
“Are you making fun of me, Felix?”
He smirks again, but there’s something off about it. It’s like he feels guilty for nearly smiling. I don’t know. But I’d like to…I’d like to know as much about this man as I possibly can.
“I wouldn’t dream of that,” he says. “It’s just the way you were looking at me.”
I laugh, though I can’t say exactly why. It’s something in the ironic slant of his tone, in the way his eyes stare at me and only me.
People are walking by all around us, but he never looks away. Lexi’s gone, talking to somebody else, but I only realize that when I hear her laughing from behind me.