AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Solly,” Dutch purrs deeper, rumblier, firing a velvet-wrapped bullet between my eyes.
The weaponized nickname tears down my spine, chipping bone behind the hollow pit that has me all fucked up inside. “I—”
“Solly. Solly. Solly,” Dutch calls my name, rumbling my thighs. His thick fingers tremble against my cheek. “You’re back.”
He’s so soft.
So raw.
Eyes sparkling and wet.
My lips part, wanting to answer.
I choke on words, but the tightening of my throat isn’t all emotion.
Needle-pricks scrub my skin in lemon salt while my pheromones stage a death-match with Serafina’s scent. Keeping control feels like squeezing coils of barbed wire, but the fight’s not half as bloody as the one in my heart.
A breath rips between my teeth.
What in the shit am I doing?
Lying on Dutch’s chest?
Letting him peel off my mask?
One moment of lost control and he’s dead.
My heart ices.
There’s only one thing I can do when I’m cornered, when I’m lost and weak and bracing for another hit.
Lie and make him go away. “I’m Serafina Redfang. I’m not—”
“Freckles.”
“I don’t have—”
“Here.” His finger brushes even softer than his voice when he strokes a familiar path behind my ear. Down and over, down and over, sparking a shiver that keeps falling when he lifts his fingertip to trace the spot again.
“One. Two. Three. Four.” Dutch pauses at every dot, then cradles the side of my face, stroking my earlobe with a ticklish, too-possessive thumb. “Where have you been, Solly?”
My neck skin creeps, numb shock rolling like a cold, cracked yolk.
Freckles?
For real?
I thought I’d get caught using the wrong fork at a fancy dinner. Maybe pop out of Serafina’s bra, trip in her stilettos, or spill a secret she’s not supposed to know.
But freckles sell me out?
I didn’t even know I had freckles, and it’s weird as shit that Dutch knows me better than I know myself.
Pancake breakfast soaking my tongue, I drag his wrist away. His golden brow bunches, but he doesn’t fight.
I’m the one fighting my truth and the twisted scent trying to claw free.
What am I supposed to say?
