Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 66978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
She crosses her arms. “I don’t need your pity.”
“You don’t have my pity,” I say. “Just my concern.”
“Are you kidding me? The pity coming from you is so thick I could cut it with a knife.”
“It’s not pity, Kelly. It’s empathy. Pure and simple. I don’t know your story, but I know my own. I know what it feels like to think life will never be good again.”
“Oh you do?” Her tone is sardonic.
I shake my head. “No one has your story. It’s your own and unique to you. But other people do have stories, some not as bad as yours…and some worse.”
“You think you have a story worse than mine?”
“No,” I say truthfully, absently reaching to touch her. I stop just shy of her cheekbone. “I don’t.”
Because I think her story transcends her time on that island. I think there’s much more to Kelly Taylor than any of us know.
24
KELLY
Without thinking, I launch myself at him.
I grab him, pull his head down, force his lips onto mine.
And I kiss him.
I kiss him for a few seconds, and I’m not sure he’s going to respond until—
He parts his lips and sweeps his tongue into my mouth.
This isn’t our first kiss. We both know what to expect.
Angry passion.
Leif Ramsey is the perfect outlet for my angry passion.
I stalk forward, pushing him up against the wall next to my door, and I force him to deepen the kiss.
Until—
He breaks away, turns me around quickly until my back is against the wall, and his blue eyes stare into me.
“Don’t,” he growls. “Don’t do this unless you’re willing to go all the way.”
“Just kiss me. Kiss me again,” I grit out.
“I’ll kiss you, Kelly. I want to kiss you. I want to do a lot more than kiss you, and I think you know that. So this is your get-out-of-jail-free card. Tell me to leave now, and I will.”
I open my mouth.
I open my mouth to yell at him. Tell him to get out. Tell him I’m not ready for this, which I’m not.
But all that comes out is—
“Don’t leave.”
He looks down at me, cups my cheek. His touch singes me.
“You sure? Are you totally fucking sure? Because if I kiss you again, we both know what’s going to happen.”
“I’m sure.”
He takes both my cheeks in his hands—holds my face—and grips my gaze for what seems like an eternity.
Just when I’m about ready to yell at him to kiss me—
“I’m not. I’m not sure at all.” He lets me go and steps toward the door.
“Don’t go,” I say. “Please. I need this.”
“You don’t need this,” he says. “And I am not a this for someone to need. I take my job protecting you seriously, Kelly, and we both know I won’t be doing my job if I allow this to happen.”
I drop my gaze to his jeans. His bulge is apparent. My God, he must be huge.
And for the first time in—ever?—I want that part of a man inside me. I feel empty and aching.
“Leif…”
He raises his eyebrows. “Is that the first time you’ve called me by my name? No. It’s the second.”
“Is it? I… I don’t know.”
“That’s just it. You don’t know. You don’t know me. And I don’t know you. We have a pretty good idea of what each other’s lives have been like up until now, but that isn’t enough.”
“You’re telling me you’ve never gone to bed with a woman without knowing who she is?” I scoff.
“I’m not saying that at all. What I am saying is that you’re under my protection, and if I allow this to happen, I won’t be doing my job.”
He’s right, of course. I understand what his job is. I know I’m a mess. I know how I feel on the inside, and it’s not always how I project myself on the outside. I strike first. I strike hard. To avoid being hurt myself.
When in reality?
I’m aching. Aching on the inside and on the outside for something more. For a friend. For a companion.
For a lover.
And Leif Ramsey, damn him, is so fucking gorgeous. I don’t even like blond men, but he looks like he walked off a Viking ship.
I nod, then. Bite my lower lip. “I understand.”
I expect him to leave then, so when he steps toward me and cups my cheek again, I drop my jaw.
“Am I finally seeing the real Kelly?”
I close my mouth. Is he? Am I allowing him to see what’s on the inside?
“Sometimes I’m not sure who the real Kelly is,” I say.
“I don’t believe that for a minute.” He trails his finger from my cheek over my still bare shoulder. “I think the real Kelly isn’t the harsh woman you like to portray to others. I think somewhere underneath that hard exterior is someone who’s soft and gentle. Or at least was once.”