AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hurt replaces the warmth—the disappointment settles over me like a blanket of snow. “Can you point me in the direction of my house,Kieran?” I emphasize his name, and his lips twitch as if he’s struggling not to smile.
He arches an elegant brow. It’s infuriating, that arrogant expression.
“Aurora.” He says my name as if testing it out loud, ending with a rasp dipped in sensuality. My lower belly flutters.
“What gave me away? That except for your house and mine, there is nothing for miles, or that I look like my mother?”
“You are more beautiful than your mother,” he says matter-of-factly, without any warmth. With a clenched jaw, his eyes travel almost lazily over my body as if what he sees is unpleasant, yet he still can’t look away.
God, he’s sexy. Sister Theodora would have a conniption if I even thought of God and a man as sexy in the same sentence. Snapping out of my thoughts, I wave my hand in front of his face.
“I have to get back home. Which way?”
As if me opening my mouth took him out of his trance, he says, “You could get lost a second time. I’ll drive you back.”
The green in his eyes intensifies with something primal that sends tingles to my toes. We walk in the opposite direction while I steal glances at him. Kieran catches me every time and smirks, knowing his effect on me. His smile is like him, alluring, speaking of something lurking under the surface—dangerous, but also sinful.
“How was boarding school?” he asks, and we both stop as if surprised he broke the silence first. I push through the onslaught of nerves, making me behave even more awkwardly than normal.
“It was an all-girls Catholic school.”
“And now you’re back.” His answer is a swift cut with a knife.
We exit the forest and arrive at the front of his house. A memory comes to me and I remember a cute two-year-old baby.
“How’s Leonie?”
“She’s good.”
“Can I see her?” I am desperate to hear more about what I missed while I was gone. Bleakness has taken over from the years I have been away.
His mouth presses in a flat line. “No, she lives with my mother. After what happened, Mother didn’t want to stay here.”
“Oh.”
“Come on.”
I follow him into the house and inside the kitchen. An older lady I remember well blinks from me to him.
“Aurora?”
“Tamara.”
We meet in the middle in a hug. She pours us fresh lemonade. I catch the clock and shoot up.
“My father will kill me. I’m so late,” I say, and Kieran pushes himself off the wall. His presence alone unnerves me. My stomach hasn’t stopped fluttering.
In his black, luxurious car with brown leather, his scent intoxicates my senses, a woodsy, smoky scent. Masculine, sensual notes. The cool air from the AC blasts on my heated skin.
“You looked scared back there.” His words shock me back to the present.
Shifting in my seat, I respond, “It’s just... I thought they would be happy I came back, but everyone sees me as the ghost of my mother.”
“You are your own person,” he says with no trace of doubt, putting a smile on my face.
“I don’t know what I did for Father to hate me so much.”
Can’t I just shut up already?
