Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 15404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 77(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 77(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
For the first moment I see her laying there, a part of me wants to let her sleep. It’s the first time I’ve seen her without some kind of worry on her face since she got here, her hair falling into her eyes, her brow unfurrowed and her mouth soft. I trace a finger across her cheek, drawing it along her soft skin, watching as the light dapples against her right there before me.
We spent the day together – and then, the night, too. The dress that she asked me for help with is still sitting on the floor where I pulled it off her, and she hasn’t made a move to put it back on yet. No, instead, she’s sprawled brazenly naked in front of me, her soft curves so tempting under the morning light that it’s hard for me to think of anything else but waking her up and...
She lets out a soft sigh, moving in a little closer to me, and some inch of reality begins to settle in to my mind. As much as it’s been addled by the sweetness of having her this close to me, I know I can’t let myself get used to it.
I can already imagine my sister’s comments on the matter, the way she’ll tease me about finding a wife just the same way my brother did – but she didn’t hear what Kim told me yesterday, how much she has left behind, and how much I would be keeping her from if I asked her to stay.
Slowly, gently, I ease myself out from underneath her, not wanting to wake her or explain why I’m in such a rush to get out of here. It’s not that I want to be away from her – if anything, I want nothing more than to bury my nose into her hair and let myself feast on the scent of her. It is so soft and feminine and delicate against my roughness.
But, if I let myself get attached, I might give her reason to turn her back on what she clearly cares so much about, and I don’t want to do something like that to her. To anyone, really.
I swing my legs out of bed as quietly as I can, reaching for my clothes where I tossed them aside on the floor. I can still remember, all too clearly, the way her hands felt on my bare skin, marking me like she’s painting me with a tattoo she doesn’t care to hide.
But I think back to the pride in her voice when she told me about her teaching, her education – and I know that, if she stayed here, she wouldn’t be able to pursue it. This place is still in its nascent stages, and it’s a long way off from having the kind of system in place that would allow her to carry on where she left off. Shit, there’s hardly so much as a school for the kids, let alone a place someone with her mind and abilities could keep them in check.
And God knows I’ve already lost enough as it is. My brother, moving out, my mother, passing away. It’s a miracle Lucy hasn’t taken off in search of something better, and it feels like only a matter of time before she does. Kim said it herself, she’s not from this time, this place – she’s got a whole life out there, one that she clearly doesn’t want to be done with, at least, not yet.
Once I am dressed, I glance back towards her, where she’s still sleeping in bed. Her face looks almost beatific in this light, and a wrench in my chest almost orders me to go back to her, to pull her into my arms and forget anything I thought about walking away.
But I force myself to turn my back and make for the stairs, teeth gritted, mind made up. It might not feel like the right thing, but I can tell it is. I am not going to be the one to keep her here, not if she has a whole life, a whole career, a whole passion to return to. Just because the other women who appeared in this place with no warning have found a home here doesn’t mean she will...
"Where are you going?”
I hear her voice, sleepy, calling out to me, and I stiffen on the spot. It takes everything I have not to just slide back in beside her and tell her that she’s got nothing to worry about. Yhat I was just going for some coffee but I’ll stay right here at her side if that’s what she wants.
I turn back to her, to find her propped up in the best, a slightly-confused expression on her face, brows knitted together.
"I need to go," I tell her, voice as neutral as I can keep it. She frowns.