Read Online Crossed by Lacey Silks - Free Book Online Page A

he’d just done hit me, I wasn’t sure whether to hide or run. How could I have let a man reduce me to nothing like that? A man whom I’d known since yesterday morning, who in truth could be a madman needing mental help from a rehab I was supposed to take him to. He did with me as he pleased, when and where he pleased, and it was absolutely wonderful.
    “Don’t be shy, Grace.” He smoothed the back of his hand against my cheek. As much as I tried to look for a sign, there was definitely nothing mad about Hunter. In fact, so far he’d been the opposite. He’d saved my life, bought flowers, come to get me when I asked him. If I hadn’t known about his need for therapy, I’d have said that he was a perfect guy.
    “As weird as it may sound, I have never done anything like this before.”
    “Grace, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Only you matter.”
    “I just don’t want you to think of me as a woman who does this kind of thing.”
    He leaned in closer, kissing my lips before he said, “There’s nothing wrong with this kind of thing. And I could never think wrong about a woman I’m only getting to know better.”
    “That’s your way of getting to know me better?”
    “It’s the best way. Look how much I learned already. You’re shy, you’re afraid you’ll commit your feelings too quickly, you melt in my mouth like chocolate, taste like raspberries, and are absolutely stunning.”
    Wow! What do you say to that?
    “Thank you.”
    Stupid!
    “Um, I’d better get going.”
    “Grace, wait.” He grasped my wrist before I got out of the car. “For what it’s worth, it’s not in my nature to be so forward, but I can’t help it with you. I keep telling myself it was those bullets that triggered me yesterday, but I don’t think that was it.”
    I gasped. “What was it?”
    “It was you.”
    And once again I felt my cheeks heat, totally feeling like a fifteen-year-old girl who just got asked out to a prom.
    “Are you going out with Emma tonight?” he asked.
    “How do you know?”
    “Isn’t that what you usually do on a Saturday night?”
    Staying out in public instead of home alone was definitely a good idea.
    “Yeah, we do.”
    “I guess I’ll see you around then, Magic Fingers.” He leaned over and kissed me gently on my lips before winking. “Don’t do anything I would do.”
    I waved before stepping onto the elevator and watched Hunter start his car as the door closed. I leaned my head against the mirrored wall, feeling sad and empty without him.
     

 
    C HAPTER 7
    The pounding in my head felt like the after effects of someone drilling a hole through my skull—with a jackhammer. I’d already called Emma to cancel our plans. There was no way I was stepping out of this apartment tonight with a migraine—that is, after I came back from the pharmacy with a prescription that would hopefully knock me out for the night. I’d been driving back and forth between my apartment and the salon to check on the progress of the renovations. One thing I’d learned was that it wasn’t easy to coordinate last minute, high-quality contractors—no matter how much you paid them.
    The week had taken a toll on me and I’d been feeling something coming on for a couple of days now. I was supposed to go out with Emma tonight. Friday nights were our “thing,” but then again so were Saturday nights. This one I had to cancel, and, given the way I was feeling, Emma would be lucky, as I wouldn’t be able to continue our weekend tradition of dares.
    Rain battered my windows, and the darkening sky and occasional flashes far in the distance didn’t look uplifting either. I hated bad weather. My mood fell, my blood pressure rose, and everything around me felt like crap.
    I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and headed downstairs. The pharmacy was only a block away, and I could manage to stay dry on the covered sidewalk. When I pushed the door to the store open, bright fluorescent lights hit my eyes and I was forced