Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 59448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Sighing, I close my eyes, playing with Romeo’s hair.
“These violent delights have violent ends,” I whisper, remembering Romeo and Juliet like the back of my hand. I read it in high school and thought of the Romeo I met as a kid. I was addicted to the story.
“Good night, good night,” I whisper.
10
Romeo
Feeling overly heated, I go to throw the blankets off me only to find myself tangled in arms of limbs that aren’t my own. My eyes snap open and Luna is snuggled up into my arms, her own wrapped around me tightly. My heart begins to pound in my chest, my skin suddenly feeling smothered. She smells like my shampoo, and… me. Her skin so soft, and hair wrapped around us both.
I don’t want to wake her but my mind is freaking the fuck out that she’s in my bed touching me. I’ve never had someone so close to me, or touch me like this. It’s a first and I don’t know how to feel. Should I just relish in it and pull her closer? Or should I set a stern boundary and push her away, it’d be for her own good. She’s had a hard life and getting close to me won’t redirect the path of terror she’s on.
Not knowing if I’ll ever have another human being I actually enjoy one’s company, I pull her into me. This may never happen again, and she’s asleep, so she won’t know what I’m feeling or thinking anyway.
I used to pine after Kieran and Leona, jealous of their relationship and companionship, but since Luna has been here, I haven’t given two shits about them, or what they’re doing. All I care about is Luna and getting her back on her feet.
Biting my lip, smelling her hair, I think about the day she’ll be ready to go outside and start her life. Will I be able to let her go?
The sun rises slowly, slipping across the bedroom, and Luna stirs in my arms. Since she’s been in my arms I haven’t slept all night, I just keep thinking about how it feels to have someone this close. I can feel her heartbeat against my chest even.
Her arm raises off my side and she rolls over, her face squinted with sleep. She looks around, taking in the room as if remembering where she is. She looks to me, and her lips turn into a smile.
“I think you got lost last night,” I rasp, my voice dry and tired.
“You were having a bad dream,” she informs, and my brows furrow.
“I was? What about?” Knowing she saw me at such a vulnerable time makes me uneasy.
She shakes her head.
“I dunno.”
Rolling onto her side, she tucks my pillow underneath her head, and my heart stills. Jesus, she’s beautiful. The morning sun billowed from behind her, streaming through her blonde hair. Reaching forward, I gently grab her chin.
“I want to kiss you,” I tell her, and her lips part with surprise.
Normally I wouldn’t ask, I’d grasp her face, pull her under me and kiss and fuck her to my heart’s content, but I have a feeling she’s been made to do things she hasn’t wanted to do her whole life. I don’t want to be categorized with the rest of the vile people that taunt her terrors. I’m a bad man, but even I have some fucking morals.
She nods with hesitation in her eyes, and I shift forward, pressing my lips to hers. It takes her a second to melt into me but when she finally kisses me back, and I grab each side of her face, wanting her to be closer, to feel her skin in my hands. My tongue parting her lips, I rub it against hers and she moans into my mouth. Her fingers reaches up, resting on my hand still on her face, and feel that I’m going too fast for her, so I let up, kissing her one more time.
Inches away from each other, her eyes look into mine, and I rub my thumb on the apple of her cheek.
“Tell me what happened, Luna. Tell me what happened to you after I left.”
I notice her throat bob as she swallows, her fingers sliding against the skin of my hand.
“My mother’s boyfriend never came and picked me up. I was in because my mother died at our kitchen table, and I went on for three days as if she hadn’t died. I made her dinner, I combed her hair.” She stops, inhaling a sharp breath. “I was put in an orphanage and it was… hell. They were cold and unkind, so when I was adopted into a foster family, I thought things were finally going to be like a family again.” She blinks, looking away from me. “I was wrong. They were just as cruel, and just shy of my eighteenth birthday I was sold for one-hundred thousand dollars. Since then, I’ve been tossed around and given from hand to hand since.”