Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 16582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 83(@200wpm)___ 66(@250wpm)___ 55(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 16582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 83(@200wpm)___ 66(@250wpm)___ 55(@300wpm)
But it’s not until he brings me into his house that I really see him.
And holy guacamole. He’s … gorgeous in a raw, feral kind of way that should be illegal in at least thirty states. His long-ish dark hair is slightly wavy, pushed back like he ran his hand through it too many times. He’s got a full beard, thick and sharp along his jawline, and dark gray eyes that look like smoke and steel.
His frame filled the doorway when he walked in—broad shoulders, massive arms, chest straining under a white Henley that hugged every inch of muscle. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, thick veins visible along his forearms, making my mouth go dry every time I caught a glimpse of them.
I felt hunger like I had never known before. A hunger that rolled around my belly and settled in my core.
Even now, I’m hot and horny for him. He looks like someone who’d be rough in bed, and I wonder just how coarse he’s willing to be … for me.
It’s almost ten at night. I heard him leave earlier, but I didn’t hear him come back in. He did tell me he would periodically check the maze in case someone else got lost.
Thunder cracks above the house, and I jolt, already feeling the familiar creep along my skin. Back in the city, in my cramped apartment, there’s always some kind of noise to keep me company—neighbors having their nightly screaming match about whose turn it is to do the dishes and why the other didn’t have the common sense to take the garbage outside, sirens wailing, drunken twenty-somethings shouting Taylor Swift lyrics outside my window at 2 AM.
In this small town, Silverwick Valley, it’s way too quiet and open. So easy for someone to stand and stare just outside the window, just beyond the corn, just … out of sight. The thought makes my skin crawl, and I wish I hadn’t watched all those horror movies about possessed scarecrows.
Another rumble rolls through the sky, and my heart rate speeds up.
I need to find Parker fast. I can’t explain it, but I know he’s safe. I trust my gut because it saved me more times than I can count, warning me about sketchy guys at bars and too-good-to-be-true apartment listings, and it tells me Parker’s a good guy … despite his perpetual scowl that seems permanently etched onto his stupidly handsome face.
Not to mention how hot the guy is. Although, to be fair, I don’t need my sixth sense for that. His size alone is enough to make me feel tiny, and I'm not usually one to get all fluttery about tall men. God, how is he single? In the city, women would be lining up around the block for a guy like him.
“Parker?” I call out, voice thin against the rain.
No answer, only the sound of water pounding the roof, the windows, the porch, drenching everything in thick, wet silence. I step closer to the screen door and squint through it, but it’s useless. The yard’s a wall of darkness. The cornfield is just a black blur. I can’t see a damn thing, not without my glasses, which I left back in the car.
Dear Lord, this is how horror movies begin. A woman alone in the house, with no idea of the monsters lurking in the shadows. One by one, they step into the light, and she has nowhere to go, no way to defend herself. Just like that scene from that slasher film I watched last weekend—the one that gave me nightmares for days.
If that’s the case, then the least I can do is continue searching for Parker. After all, if there are any monsters out there, they’d have to get through him first. The thought of his intimidating presence makes me feel slightly better, even if I can’t see him right now.
Swallowing back my fear, I open the door and step onto the porch, the wood cold under my bare feet.
My breath fogs the air, and the temperature drops fast. I wrap my arms around myself and take a few hesitant steps toward the edge.
“Parker, are you still out here?” I try again, louder now. Thank God I can’t see beyond five meters, so if there really are monsters out here and I’m about to become their next meal, I won’t know until they’re right in front of me. Maybe they’ll cut off my scream as they chomp bits and pieces of my—
A shape looms suddenly to my right, and I freeze, the scream trapped in my throat.
My lungs go tight. My eyes sting from the wind and the rain and the not knowing. My knees almost buckle, and I know I’m gonna be one of those characters in the movie who dies because they can’t move.