Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
He smooths both hands over my hair, feeling to see if there’s any conditioner that needs to be worked out. This man took the time to condition my hair, even though I know he’s as exhausted as I am.
“You can…you can feel ghosts like that? Spirits? All the time?”
“Not all the time.” He must not find any conditioner, because he runs his fingers through my hair one more time, then squeezes out the excess water. “There’s something special about that building.”
Silently, I agree. At least for us.
We get out of the shower, and Finley lets me borrow a T-shirt and a pair of shorts that almost come down to my knees. I’m almost asleep by the time he shows me into his bedroom.
It’s clean, with no sign of the ghosts from the library. I didn’t think they’d follow us back here, but then—who knows what to expect after you’ve been with three ghosts and a man? Anything could happen, and I’d have to take it in stride. I’m too tired to do anything else.
Finley tucks me into bed, then climbs in beside me. The bed creaks with his weight.
The white light in the room gets my attention.
More ghosts?
“The moon is really bright,” I tell Finley, then close my eyes. He pulls me close to his side and I lay my head on his chest. “When did it stop raining?”
“I don’t know.” He runs his hand over my hair. “Guess I wasn’t keeping track of the rain.”
“What are you thinking about?” I ask with a simper, teasingly. I want to know, even if I’m going to be dreaming in a matter of minutes.
He chuckles at first. “How strong everything felt tonight,” he answers right away. “How quickly it all happened.”
My eyes open and a guilt washes through me. “Like a spell?” I ask.
“A spell cast by somebody with powerful intentions,” he answers.
My face gets hot. “That…might have been me.”
“Might have been?” he questions, this time it’s him who’s teasing.
“It was me,” I admit. “I’ve been… I’ve been into you for a long time. And after today, I just had to know if you had feelings for me. I didn’t…” I explain. “I didn’t try to choose for you. I just wanted to know if we were…compatible.” Nervousness prickles my skin. I’m glad I told him the truth, but I don’t know how he’ll react. He doesn’t leave me waiting long.
“There’s no other woman in the world I’d want to fuck along with three ghosts.” Relief washes through me and then I’m met with more surprise. “And I felt that way before today.”
“You did?” The shock is clear in my tone.
“Yeah. I did,” he admits.
“I…think I’m in love with you,” I confess.
“You think?” he questions, peering down at me.
“Maybe I know but I’m scared.”
He drops his head to mine as he smiles and runs the tip his nose slightly over mine. “After tonight I don’t think you should be afraid of anything.”
A nervous huff of a laugh escapes me before he says, “I know I love you.”
I can’t help but to kiss him. To capture his lips as he brings me closer to his body under the covers.
“I love you,” I whisper, my eyes closed and his lips so close.
“I know you do and I love you too,” he says and the last thing I feel before drifting to sleep is his smile against my lips.
* * *
The End
Never Have I Ever
Never Have I Ever
Everyone knows the tale of Hansel and Gretel.
The innocence that was taken from them and the torture the witch put them through.
But what happened after they burned the witch in the oven?
With scars and memories of horror, their lives were forever changed, until one day the trail leads back to that cottage in the woods...
Chapter One
Gretel
Once upon a time, I fell in love with a boy.
That was before the curse started. After we killed the witch who kept us captive and thought we’d be safe. We were wrong.
The first hardship to strike our small town was the famine. Crops struggled to grow. The plants that managed to push themselves above the soil were weak and withered. Most of the harvest died in the fields, eaten by insects or infested with blight. The townsfolk kept smiles on their faces in the beginning, reassuring one another that it was only an unlucky year—that the next harvest would be bountiful, and we would forget how hungry we’d gotten.
We replanted the crops the next spring, and for a while, it seemed like all would be well again. Everyone in the village took turns guarding the fields from pests, saying prayers over the budding plants whenever we could. Spring turned the countryside green around us, and as the weather warmed, people started to have faith once again, satisfied that the worst was over.
But the weather didn’t stop warming. Spring became a hot, dry summer, with the earth crumbling under our feet and coating everything into dust. The crops would survive, we thought, as long as we kept the fields watered.