Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“I thought…”
“You thought I liked women.”
I nodded.
“I do. I do like women,” he assured me even as he bent and planted a kiss on my throat that sent a shiver down my spine. “But I like men too, and since I first arrived in this weird-ass town, the only person I’ve had any interest in at all is the one who’s been ignoring me like crazy.”
“Haven’t been ignoring you,” I murmured.
“It’s killing me because—”
“I’m luminous.” I was making sure.
“Yes. And because the only thing people say about you is how kind you are. How you give so much every year to the animal shelter, how you go out of your way to help everyone at the library, and of course, I know firsthand you’re amazing, with how you’ve treated my niece and saved my life.”
“I didn’t save your life. The vargr had no interest in you.”
“That’s what that thing was the other night?”
“Yes.”
“Same as the things from today?”
“You couldn’t tell?”
“I didn’t get a good look the other night, and when I came to, it was gone.”
“Well, they’re vargrs, and the ones today would have killed you if they’d been able to reach you, but the one the other night, as I said, barely noticed you.”
“Which is great for me, but not so much for you.”
“True.”
He slid his hand to the side of my throat, staring at me. “Did you kill the vargr the other night?”
“No, I had help.”
“From?”
I took a breath. “The next time you’re at my house, I’ll show you.”
“How ’bout when I drive you home tonight, you let me stay there and meet your helpers?”
My mouth went dry. “I’m that easy, am I?”
Instant scoff. “Easy? Did you miss the part where I confessed I’ve been making a fool of myself for months?”
Something occurred to me. “Is that why you were a jackass when you came over with Pete?”
“I was not a jackass, but if I was short with you, then yes, that could have accounted for my tone.” And then he added, “Possibly.”
“Well,” I said shakily, biting my lip, “I would very much like to take you home with me.”
“That’s good,” he rumbled, then drew me close and kissed me again.
I was going to say something, try for some more clever banter and flirting, but the kiss eclipsed all else. He moved me easily, like I didn’t weigh a thing, and his hands were strong as they gripped my thighs, his body powerful, and when he yanked me forward, I wanted all of him all over me.
“We could go now,” I whispered when he broke the kiss, needing air. My arms had somehow wrapped around his neck, and I was holding on, probably a bit too tight. I needed to get off him, to move or—
“Don’t do that, don’t get up,” he husked, lifting his hands from my thighs to my face, framing it, staring at me. “Stay here,” he barely got out.
He wanted me there, and I was happy to oblige him.
“God that’s crazy,” he whispered.
“What is?”
“It was the weirdest thing that day, when I was introduced to the town. I saw you, and I felt this amazing need to—wait,” he said, brows furrowing. “Did you put a spell on me or something? Is that what this is?”
“Pardon me?” I scrambled off his lap, standing up, scowling down at him.
It was hard to be away from him, because even though he was being an idiot, his lips were swollen and reddened from being kissed, his eyes dark and warm, and he had a gorgeous flush on his throat. Every instinct in me said I needed to claim him, but the words coming out of his mouth were ridiculous.
“Never mind, who cares.” He reached for my hand. “I’ll happily be under your spell because it means you wanted me enough to cast it to begin with.”
I slipped around the coffee table, putting it between us as he stood up. “I’ll have you know I’ve never cast a love spell in my life. First, I don’t think it’s fair, and second, they require the death of a living creature and—oh. Wait now,” I said, my brain kicking in. “Tell me, when you got the autopsy results for the girl who died, did she have her heart?”
He squinted at me. “She did not, no. How did you know that?”
“I think we need to call on Declan Grant,” I told him, crossing my arms. “Because I think I know why I wasn’t supposed to touch him earlier today.”
“You think he tried to cast a spell on you and killed the girl for her heart?”
“No. I don’t think it’s a love spell. I think there’s dark magic being cast, though, and that would’ve required a sacrifice.”
“You lost me,” he said, moving around the table.
“I know, but could we go talk to him?”
“You think he knows something about Megan Gallagher?”