AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do you want me to describe it?”
“No,” she hisses, face flushing beneath her makeup. “There’s nothing to describe.”
And yet I can’t help myself. I’m overflowing with the need to share the impact she has on me. There’s that stupid, warm thing in my chest. Hope.
Hope that she feels the same way.
“The moment I see you when I wake up, I feel like I’m entering a dream. I haven’t had nightmares in forever, but it’s that exact same feeling of waking up from one and realizing you’re safe.”
“Stop it, Nate.”
“When you have your night terrors and you cling onto me, my entire being wants to protect you.”
She tries to pull away from me, and she ends up falling on her ass, so I crawl on top of her, keeping her between my arms. “When you say my name, I feel like I’m having a heart attack, and my entire focus goes to you. It’s very strange.”
“You’re just… You’re…” She licks her lips.
“Have you ever been so cold you could barely feel your hands? And you’re outside, freezing, maybe walking to your house, and you just want to be there, you know?”
Her eyes keep bouncing between mine.
“Have you?” I insist.
“Y-yes.”
“And then you get home,” I keep explaining. “And it’s warm, and you get to put your cold hands against a radiator.”
She’s still blinking up at me, completely lost, when I know…I just know this makes sense.
“And slowly you can feel your hands again. It starts at the tips of your fingers.” I graze her forehead, her cheek, her lips with the tips of my fingers. “Then it’s your knuckles.” I use the knuckle of my index finger to trace her chin. “And finally, your palm.”
I press my palm against her cheek.
“You feel it all again,” I rasp, observing her entire face, her pouty lips, her harsh lines, her beautiful forest eyes. “And it’s all better.”
Her mouth parts, as a small breath leaves her.
“I know it makes sense. I might not feel much, but I feel that like I never have anything else before.”
I wait for a reaction, and I wonder if that’s how she feels about me. If every time I understand her feelings, she expects me to react to them.
For the first time, I understand what it’s like to be on the receiving end of my antisocial behavior.
“We should go,” she whispers. “It’s a business dinner.”
Something threatens to turn me violent. To keep her here, force her to take me, and make her hate herself for enjoying it. I want to imprint my soul on hers and make it hurt so badly she will never forgive me. That way, she’ll feel something toward me.
But I don’t.
I pull away from her, stand up, and offer her my hand.
And I let her punish me with silence.
I take the menu from the waiter and turn back to our table. I specifically booked a round table to make it more intimate, friendly. I want Wynne to feel like we’re friends, even though I’m going to use his business to smuggle cocaine across the country and all the way to my hotels.
Lakeview is packed as usual, but we have a table far enough from everyone to speak freely. As long as we don’t shout about drugs, we should be fine.
“Francine.” I pull out my most ravishing smile as I look at her. “The face of W. Beauty. I can see why your husband is using you to sell his products.”
