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I massage my temples.
This can’t be happening. I’ve never reacted this way with a target. I must be losing my mind.
With weak knees threatening to make me collapse, I focus my thoughts elsewhere. I concentrate on the shadows, the silvery highlights on the leaves, the texture of the bark on the trees. I listen to the soft rustle of the breeze and chirping bugs.
However, when I lick my lips, I can still taste Hannah’s mouth. I can smell her sweetness as if she’s right under my nose.
There’s no escaping her. Even if I were to leave this farm right now, her essence would haunt me forever.
In just a few simple interactions, I’ve been branded by this woman. Seared from the inside out. That ball of heat in my heart has grown stronger, and I rub at my chest.
“Ellister…” Hannah says again, so quiet.
Our connection is too intense. Unnaturally so. Although we’re no longer touching, something tangible still flows between us, and I detect confusion and hurt.
I’ve damaged her feelings. Wounded her pride. Made her insecure.
At least she’s still alive. Thank the stars. It’s not time to take her yet.
Pivoting toward the girl who’s making me have so many unwanted feelings, I pin her with a glare. Frail and vulnerable, she gazes up at me with questions in her maple eyes, and I experience a sort of resentment toward her.
How dare she make me even more regretful than I already am? To make me hate myself more?
The audacity she has to make me have affection for her. First with her witty humor and her raw honesty. Then to entice me with physical attraction.
No.
It must be the illusion of the bargain.
We’re supposed to be connected. That’s how it works.
Stepping behind the wheelchair, I begin pushing Hannah back the way we came. “You’re missing your party.”
“That’s kind of the point,” she quips. “I’d rather be out here with you.”
“Well, I have business to attend to.” I keep my voice cold and detached.
I have to remember I’m here to fulfill a purpose, and I can’t get derailed just because my target makes my cock hard.
HANNAH
Well. That was a big fat fail. Ellister must’ve really hated kissing me.
As soon as we get back to the barn, he drops me and runs. Not literally. He kindly wheels me over to my mom, then meanders away with an almost careless stroll. He saunters, with his back to me, with his hands in his pockets, and his posture relaxed.
Without even saying goodbye.
Disappointment weighs heavily on me as I watch him disappear into the crowd, probably to go find my dad so he can get that meeting done with and leave.
“Everything okay?” Mom asks with a worried crease between her eyebrows while she scans me from head to toe.
“I’m just tired,” I half-lie, leaving out the part about being harshly rejected by the hottest man I’ve ever met.
Looking back on it, I realize he was hesitant to get physical. I think he even tried to let me down easy before I attacked him with my mouth.
I came on too strong. That’s what happens when you have nothing to lose.
Only I did have something to lose. I had tonight. One night with Ellister. Just a few hours to forget about everything except the way he makes me feel. And I ruined it by mauling him.
