Page 69 of The Midnight Order
“Why are you worried about it?” Her sneering words are accompanied by her searching eyes over my face.
I lift my hand and run the back of my index finger down her cheek. “Because something draws me to you, and I don’t enjoy seeing things I care for in pain.”
Her breath hitches as I drop my hand to the mattress between us again.
“You don’t know me.”
“I want to. Very much so. More than anything I’ve ever wanted before.”
She says nothing.
She doesn’t have to.
The cadence of her heartbeat says it all for her.
“You should get back to sleep. I can go back to the corner if you’d like to pretend I’m not here, but when you stir again, I will hold you.” I don’t mean it to sound like a threat, but it comes out as such.
She flops onto her back, glaring up at the ceiling with such disgust that I’m concerned the thing might topple down over us. “I won’t be able to sleep again now.”
“Well, as long as you’re up.” I stand, slipping back into my boots and straightening my back out. “Get dressed. I’ve got something to show you.”
“It’s three in the morning.”
“Good. You can tell time; I was concerned you couldn’t.” My joke falls flat, and she deadpans at me.
“Where could you need to take me at three in the morning?”
I turn and lean over the mattress, boring my gaze into hers like a laser beam. “You’ll never find out if you don’t get dressed. And wear sensible shoes; it’s a bit of a jaunt,” I add as I rush from the room, slamming the door behind me with a grin on my face.
Her curiosity is what I counted on when I formed this plan, and it hadn’t failed me.
She’s beside me within five minutes as I open the front door and lead her to the sprawling front lawn.
“Why are we walking?” she finally asks by the second mile down the road.
“You can’t sleep. Exercise should fix that problem. Two birds, one stone.”
She huffs. “It’s cold out.”
“You’re very whiny tonight.”
“You’re vulgar.”
“Not vulgar. Honest. People always mistake honesty for unkindness, but that’s your sensitivity to the truth, which is not my problem.”
She’s struck speechless, and I look over to ensure she’s still beside me.
“You’re not wrong.”
“I know I’m not.”
Her laugh carries through the misty, early-morning air as she shoves her hands in her hoodie’s pocket.
“We’re going to my aunt’s place?”
Part of me wants to prod her about her aunt not truly being her aunt, but I don’t want to cause her alarm in the middle of the night, so I decide against it.
Besides, Jasper is probably the best male for the job when it comes to that subject.
