Page 26 of Freed By Wrath

Slow, easy, and completely genuine.

I don’t know his face.

I can’t even see half of it.

Yet something about that laugh… about that smile… settles somewhere inside me with unsettling familiarity.

Like hearing the chorus of a song I haven’t listened to in years.

Like finding something I didn’t realize I’d been missing.

No. I’m not falling for this.

Absolutely not.

I snap myself out of it.

I’m either concussed or completely losing my mind.

“So, are we going to continue our cuddle session?” he pushes, stretching lazily before settling those infuriatingly amused eyes back on me. “There are only two acceptable answers here, trouble.”

He raises two fingers.

“Yes.” One finger folds down. “Or maybe.” The second follows.

“If you pick yes, we go back to it until the sun comes up.” His grin grows, all confidence and mischief. “If you pick maybe… I’ll simply take it as a challenge until it becomes a yes.”

He tilts his head, and his smile turns positively sinful.

“What’s it going to be?”

Why is he sexy? Why is any of this sexy?

I’m not ok, I’m not ok, I’m not ok.

My brain has officially suffered irreversible damage because I need to move, to leave… to free myself. But my body, traitorous thing that it is, still remembers the warmth of his arms, the steady rise and fall of his breathing, the hard line of him pressed against me, and it wants to go back.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I tear my eyes away from him, searching the apartment until they land on a door.

Exit.

Freedom.

When I look back, he’s still watching me, too relaxed for his own good.

I don’t think anymore. I just… run.

My bare feet slap against the hardwood as I launch myself toward the door.

One step.

Two.

Three.

Four—