AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re not better. What happened tonight? You were feeling fine earlier.”
“You’re a human lie detector too? You’re here to tell me my head isn’t really hurting… because it is.” I know I’m being a bitch, but getting close to him only makes things more complicated.
“Sit down and talk to me.” His tone is commanding like it had been with Austin earlier, and I want to listen, but instead, I fold my arms over one another and lean against the back wall. “There’s nothing to say. Where is Austin?”
“He’s in bed. It’s two in the morning. He did make you that soup, though. It’s in the fridge. Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
I wet my lips and stare at the man before me. Even in the middle of the night, he’s hot as hell. Heck, maybe more so. His hair is sticking up weird and his beard is frayed and wild. He’s still wearing the flannel, but it’s unbuttoned, and the sleeves are rolled as high as they go. “There’s nothing wrong. I told you.”
“Talk to me.” His tone is low and straightforward. “I know what happened today. I was there too. You felt something.”
“I told you I don’t want to get close to you! What’s the point? You have other plans for your life and that’s all reasonable. I—”
He steps toward me. “You’re scared. I’m scared.”
“I’m not scared.” I look away then back again slowly. He’s stalking closer. His giant body moves like a ball of heat that’s blazing straight through me, setting fire to every bit of rationalization I have left.
“You’re terrified, angel, and so am I,” his thumb tips beneath my chin, “but I have to know what happens here. Don’t you?”
A lump grows in my throat as I stare at the giant in front of me.What is he saying? Why is he calling me an angel? Why do I like it?
“Tell me today wasn’t perfect. Tell me that last night didn’t feel like magic and I’ll stop.”
“There are so many reasons for you to stop. What about the part where you can’t do this? You belong to God.”
“I asked for a sign and Austin called me.” He shrugs. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, Lily. That has to mean something.”
“You will. You’ll stop eventually. I’m just me and it’s only been two days. I can’t be the reason you don’t do the thing you’ve always wanted to do.”
He sighs long and hard, his hand still beneath my chin, drawing my gaze toward his. “I’ve lived my life for God, and I’ll always live my life for God, but maybe, I’ve been mishearing his guidance. Maybe I was meant to meet you. Maybe I was meant to meet Austin. Maybe you were meant to get that headache and I was meant to be here, right now, with my hands on you.”
“Or,” I sigh, trying to stop my heart from racing out of my body, “you’re making a huge mistake. You ever think of that?”
He stares up at the ceiling then returns his gaze to mine as his lips angle closer toward me. “You will never be a mistake. You are the sweetest, most beautiful soul I have ever met, and I want you, Lily. I want you for good. Tell me how you feel. What was tonight about?”
I draw in a deep breath, trying to ignore the way his words make my clit throb. “Today felt like everything I ever wanted, Chap, and that made me sad because I know deep down that even if you give into me on some whim right now, you’ll regret it. And if I let myself care about you, I’ll only get hurt. Anyway, I think the stress of Austin’s school and everything got to me, hence the migraine. I’m okay now. You should go before you say anything else we can’t come back from.”
The giant looks down at me. His hand touches the side of my face, the other resting on my hip. His gaze is soft and warm, like a hug. And while there’s something about him that makes me believe every word he says, I feel stupid for believing it.
This isn’t one of Grace’s books. This is real life. In real life, priests are priests, and single mothers stay single. This isn’t real. Men don’t stay. Men leave. All this is going to cause is pain.
He leans in. “If you don’t want me forever, that’s fine. I’ll respect that… but let me kiss you just once. One kiss, and we let fate do the rest.”
“I don’t believe in fate, Chap. I believe in hormones, and our hormones are definitely going crazy right now.”
“Fate is what brought us here, Lily. Fate gave us the hormones we’re feeling. If we kiss and they all go away, then I’ll agree with you, and leave without another thought. But if I kiss you right now and I feel half of what I think I’m about to feel, I’m laying you down in that bed and I’m not letting go. Not now, not ever. The choice is yours.”
He stares down at me, his lips slightly parted, his biceps firm and flexing. “Tell me to stop and I will.”
I should tell him just that. I should tell him to stop. I should tell him to stop, and I should show him the door, lock it behind him, then find chains to keep it that way, and never open it again. Not ever.
Instead, my clit throbs and my heart hammers against my chest. As wrong as it is, I want Chap.
My gaze drops to his lips and toward his eyes again. Over and over, we’re stuck in a dance of temptation that neither want to escape. He leans into my lips, kissing me with an ache in the back of his throat as though he’s needed me for an eternity.
Wild thoughts run through me. A future, a home, a tiny little cabin in the woods, a dozen horses, a happy Austin, a wedding by the river, a baby bump, a million days just like yesterday where we’re doing nothing, but everything is happening. A million days where we’re just…happy.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had that thought with anyone. There have always been questions in my mind. Questions that wouldn’t rest.Would this work? How could it work? What about the way he talked to me the day before?If I’m honest with myself, with Chap, there’s none of that.
