Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 84194 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84194 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
I wanted to shake Sully awake and demand to know his intentions. Had I proved a point today? Had I made him sit up and listen to whatever existed between us? Or had I only made him more intent on getting rid of me?
Holding my breath, I left the relative safety of his bathroom and padded into the dark bedroom. Sully lay on his side with the sheet pulled over him, leaving only his torso and muscle-corded arms bare.
Still asleep, his vulnerability drew me to him in morbid fascination. He looked younger and older. Innocent and more depraved. His lips were pressed together, his forehead still furrowed, his entire body stiff and uncomfortable.
My heart squeezed as I moved closer still, unable to tear my eyes off the contours of his tanned chest, the sprigs of hair between his pecs, the way his arms flexed and threatened power even in his sleep.
He hadn’t escaped his own injuries from our time together. His bicep had chafing, his lips sore like mine, and his hands held a cut or two over his knuckles. His pulse pounded in his throat, keeping time to his slumbering heartbeat, and moonshine snuck in from the deck, illuminating a puncture mark on his arm.
An injection site.
Whatever Dr Campbell had given him, I hoped it would prevent any complications from inhaling water and almost trading this life for a new one.
My stomach ached all over again at the thought that he could’ve died today. That this male with all his destructive malice and damaged misery might no longer exist.
That would be a tragedy.
That would be…karma.
Karma for his ownership over those who should never have been bought. Karma for his heartlessness toward those who shared the same genetic makeup.
Go, Ellie.
Go before it’s too late.
This was wrong. A voyeur in the dark. A girl who ought to hate this man but was not hating him at all.
Biting my bottom lip, I sent motion to my legs to leave. Instead, they disobeyed me, closing the final distance between me and his bed. I bent without thinking, running my fingertips over his cheek.
He flinched.
He moaned.
His eyes fluttered but stayed closed, his face twisted up in pain.
Pain.
Why pain?
Why did closeness bring such agony to him?
Pull away.
Get back!
My thoughts had loudened to shouting, but my fingers switched from feathering to cupping his cheek, feeling his warmth, his realness, his existence.
Go, run. Don’t do this to yourself.
You’re smarter than this, damn it!
You’re being an idiot.
I held my breath as I ran my thumb over his bottom lip.
His entire body jolted.
His eyes flashed open, wide but not awake. The sea blue of his pupils had turned cobalt with misty memories.
I gasped as he lashed out, snatching my wrist. “You.” His voice sounded like crushed-up nightmares.
Gulping, I tried to pull away. He just jerked me close until I tripped onto the bed, onto him.
“Come to haunt my dreams for the third time?” He nuzzled into me, sucking my ear lobe, biting me in punishment. “Well this time, I won’t let you go.” His leg kicked off the sheet until he was free. Manhandling me until I lay on my side with my back to his front, he pulled me into him so every inch of our bodies kissed.
Skin to skin.
Soul to soul.
He groaned as he spooned me, not gently but furiously. As if angry with me. Livid with me. But…not with me because he didn’t see me; he only saw a figment of his dreams.
Who is she?
And why did vicious green jealousy fill me?
“Why, oh why, can’t you be real?” He buried his face into my hair, then he shuddered. His arms went lax around me as he tripped back into sleep.
And I lay there, trapped by him, surrounded by him, cursing him.
I couldn’t stay in his arms.
I couldn’t pretend it was me he’d seen standing by his bed. Whatever woman he dreamed of had already captured his heart. Therefore, my stupid attempts at taking ownership of it were futile.
Tears welled and spilled.
I’d lost.
It’s over.
I would be sold for the second time, and all of this would fade into a strange, sickening hallucination.
I tried to extract myself, but even in his sleep, he kept me prisoner.
The moon skated higher in the sky.
The world spun slowly toward a new day.
And I remained his.
Captured and afraid, I could no longer fight my failed escape shipwreck and Euphoria-induced heart-wreck.
Sully had flown me back to his island, thrown me in a cage, rented me to a guest, and then smashed apart every remaining barricade I’d had around my heart.
I was exhausted.
Emotionally.
Mentally.
Physically.
Sleep was precious.
Sleep was vulnerable.
But in his arms, I slipped into darkness, and dreams whisked me far away.
Chapter Six
I WOKE TO PAIN.
My entire body felt as if it’d been tied to the skids of my helicopter and dragged through the ocean backward, colliding off reefs and atolls, smashing into palm trees and rocks.