AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
Shadows stretched longand heavy across the sheets. Rain splattered across the window panes, and a groan of thunder eased out from the far horizon. Beside her, Wayne shuddered in his sleep and then muttered something.
Elise’s heart nearly stopped beating.
How adorable. He talks in his sleep.
I didn’t think I could like him even more than I already did.
Elise grabbed her phone from the bedside table and again read through the text messages from earlier that day when Tracey had reported she’d received word from the DNA laboratory.
In the next few hours, I’ll know the truth about my family.
I’ll know if this whole Mackinac adventure was for nothing.
Wayne wrapped his sturdy arms around her suddenly and held her tightly against his warm chest. His eyes remained closed as he said, “I can tell you’re trying to escape the bed. That isn’t allowed.”
Elise’s cheeks burned with excitement. She giggled and swatted his tattooed bicep playfully. “You know we have to go to Dean’s later tonight. I promised.”
“I told you, Elise. I want the whole island to think I ran away, just the way you got to run away from California.”
“Can we just run away after I get the results?” Elise lifted herself slightly and dropped a kiss on Wayne’s cheek. “Just one more night, and then you can kiss this rock goodbye if you want.”
Wayne’s eyelids opened to reveal those stunning cerulean irises. Elise’s heart skipped yet another beat.
“How dare you?”
Elise arched her brow. “How dare me what?”
“Call my beautiful Mackinac Island ‘this rock,’” he said.
Elise rolled her eyes as her smile widened. “You’re impossible, aren’t you?”
“I hope so,” Wayne said. “I can’t make it easy on you. That would be way too boring. I know how you writers are. You want every day to be all fired up with potential.”
**
ELISE SHOWERED IN WAYNE’Sbathroom, something she hadn’t done since those few days when she’d crashed there. The mirror steamed and she slid a bit of the towel over it and blinked at herself—a woman she no longer fully recognized.
Wayne and I are falling in love.
It feels like flying.
Both Wayne and Elise dressed up for the evening: Elise in the green dress she had worn to come “declare her love to Wayne” in, and Wayne in a dark grey button-down and a pair of slacks. Elise watched him as he styled his curly black hair with a quick dash of his fingers.
“What?” he asked her when he caught her.
“It’s so easy for you, isn’t it?” She laughed.
“What? Being devilishly handsome?”
Elise rolled her eyes again but jumped forward and allowed him to lift her into another kiss. When he returned her gently to the ground, he whispered, “The youngest member of the Swartz family. I never knew I was a gold-digger.”
“We don’t know if it’s a fact yet,” she said mischievously.
“Within the hour,” Wayne said ominously.
**
