Page 82 of Time To Learn

I frown and look athim.

“That doesn’t make much sense.”

He takes a deep breath as he turns to look at Thunder again.

“Sometimes, I can’t stand to be alone—the silence doesn’t give me peace of mind. Instead, it enhances my senses, takes control over me, until I have to move and do something. Anything to drown itout.”

“What’ll happen if you don’t?”

He glances at me as he swallowshard.

“I don’t know.” The honest answer takes me by surprise. “I’ve never let it go this far without shutting out the loudness.”

Instead of making sense, his answer only manages to confuseme.

“I can’t make you out, Kristian.”

He turns fully towards me and takes a step closer.

“That makes two of us, I guess,” he grumbles.

“Why are your thoughts so loud?” I persist.

He shrugs as he puts his hands in his pockets and looks down at hisfeet.

“They’re just memories, I guess,” he mumbles. “Memories I’d rather forget than remember.”

A sense of foreboding settles over me, and I shiver in thecold.

“Is it a woman you came here to forget?” I ask, almost afraid of the answer.

He shrugs.

“That’s what I thought, yes, but now?” His eyes turn my way again, and I shiver at the intensity. “I thought I was in love, but now, I’m not so sure if I’ve ever really known what that’slike.”

I frown at his strange answer and open my mouth, but he’s not giving me the chance to ask more questions.

“Why did you come out here, Laura?” heasks.

I wet my lips and look away again.

“I don’t know,” I mumble. “Wanted some company, maybe?”

What the hell am I saying?

“Is thatall?”

I hesitate as he takes another step closer and I crane my head back, keeping his gaze locked withmine.

“I…I don’tknow.”

Heat simmers in his eyes, and I suppress another shiver. Not from the cold this time. No, I’m heating up. The fading light makes his eyes appear almost black, but they don’t scare me. Instinctively, I know that Kristian would never hurt me—physically, thatis.

But I can’t give him the power to hurt me emotionally, and I fear that’s all this attraction between us will amountto.

Bruised hearts. Weeping souls.

Or maybe only my heart. Mysoul.