AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTERONE
I slowly come awake to find myself alone. A shiver tightens my skin even though I’m not cold. Reaching out, I trace my fingers over the soft leather. Touching the couch where Kieran and I collapsed after we—What do you even call what happened between us?
Sex seems far too bland of a word. Making love... that term feels like a dangerous lie to some younger version of myself.
But something warm is lingering in my chest. Maybe because a blanket has been tucked around me, carefully snugging me in. My tangled hair has been hooked behind my ear as if a caring hand tucked it there.
For a few seconds, my heart speeds before it settles into a slow, steady throb, diffusing my body with crimson heat as I call up memories about last night.
I don’t have to call them very far. They are still lingering in my bones, in the soft places where hard things touched.
Scratchy-eyed, I blink a few times, my focus narrowing on the fireplace. The expansive stone hearth was roaring with a toasty fire last night, it’s now black and empty. But the room is warm.
Given that last night was a cold fall New Hampshire evening, storm and all, that must mean the power is back on. Has been for a while.
Not that I needed heat last night. Kieran nearly set the whole state on fire.
God. He was incredible. The way he made me feel…
I was soaring. Lost in a state of bliss and safety in his arms.
My body is still feeling a little floaty. Like I haven’t completely returned to Earth. Like all of it was a dream. Except, the little bruises here and there from his big hands are physical reminders of what we did. Of how real it was.
I’m marked on the inside too. Almost branded. I can still feel him deep inside my core. The place where he planted his seed all those years ago.
It’s was like my body instantly remembered that.
Burrowing below the blanket, I relish these thoughts. The way he was so commanding yet so gentle. The dichotomy that’s Kieran.
My captor, my lover.
My heartbreak, my hope.
As he looked at me last night, I began to know the depth of just how far I am in over my head.
The things I saw in his eyes last night were devastating.
The man was possessive. Determined. Hungry. Studying me like he was trying to memorize every little detail. Imprint me on his soul.
I felt beautiful and more alive than I have felt in years. Since that night in the garden and that day in the hotel.
I’d felt seen back then. Desired. And last night, that feeling seemed amplified somehow.
A terrifying thought hits me as violently as a fist to my gut.
Kieran McGregor is responsible for the five most pivotal moments in my life.
My first kiss that night in the garden.
The first time I knew what it was like to be pleasured by a man.
Discovering I was pregnant.
Finn’s birth.
Taking me away from my father’s estate.
I curl onto my side, allowing myself to experience the feelings—equally comforting and disturbing. In truth, the ache inside my chest is paralyzing. The admission of the weight he carries in my life is enlightening. Like I’m seeing it from twenty-thousand feet high and it finally makes sense.
