Page 79 of Cloud Storm

I appreciate his honesty, I swear I do, but I have to admit it stings. Why the hell does it bother me so much?

“Well, thanks,” I growl, getting up to leave, wanting to go home.

“Have you ever been blindfolded?” he asks suddenly and, although I don’t understand what this is all about, I sit back down in response. “Do you know what happens when you take it off and you can see the light?”

“The light hurts your eyes, so you have to wait a while to adapt.”

“Well, that is what happened to me, my gorgeous girl. You were the bright light and I was blinded by you.”

Can a girl’s brain be blown twice on the same night?

Well, apparently, mine can.

“Lancelot,” I whisper his name as I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

I’m dissolving like my words.

I want to kiss him.

I want to touch him.

I want everything.

“This conversation is far from over,” he warns as I attack him with kisses.

“Are you always so hard to convince?”

He laughs and I love it. He should always be this way, so relaxed and so handsome.

“Believe me, I’m putty in your hands. However, we have other things to talk about.”

“Like what?”

“I want you to tell me about your past, about your family. You know mine, I think tonight between Adrik and my brothers you have a clear idea of where I came from. Now I want to know where you came from, Ariel.”

“According to that book, men are from Mars and women are from Venus.”

“Ariel,” he reprimands me.

“Okay, fine,” I sigh, as I start telling him everything about The Villa, my parents and, of course, about my brothers.

About my saviors.

Lancelot lies on his back and pulls me up against his side. As I continue with my story, I become distracted, tracing the hard lines of his chest with my fingers.

“What happened after you ran away from that place?” he asks, stroking my back. By his tone of voice and the tension emanating from his body I can tell he isn’t happy learning the truth.

“The truck driver turned out to be a good guy, and I traveled to Pennsylvania with him and his wife, but then Mrs. May wanted to call social services because I was a minor, so I had to run again. I was all alone and scared to death.”

“And the bastards who were supposed to protect you just deserted you,” he growls.

“They did what they could, but my brothers didn’t have many options.”

“I’m referring to your parents, Ariel, they’re the ones that should’ve been protecting you,” he clarifies. “Tell me more.”

“I was so ignorant, so clueless. I ended up on the street, because to apply for jobs, I needed an address, a birth certificate, and a social security number, none of which I had. Where was I supposed to get all those things?”

He mumbles a curse as he kisses my hair, and I get lost in his strong arms as he hugs me tightly, finding the courage to continue telling him my story.

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