Page 99 of The Last Days of Lilah Goodluck

My whole body spasms. All those inner muscles tighten on him, milking him dry. Watching him coming would have been nice. But I am lost to the stars and some deep inner or outer space. I don’t know. Orgasms don’t usually send me interstellar. It’s like my world got spun around and around, leaving me with no idea of up or down. All I can do is cling to him, to hold on tight. And he does the same.

His hand soothes up and down my back for I don’t know how long. I stay collapsed on his chest where I landed. It’s all his fault anyway. I don’t know how to think or feel or anything. How dare sex with him be this good.

“About the soulmates idea,” he says eventually.

“Ali,” I mumble, “don’t even go there.”

“I’m just saying, it’s an interesting thought. It would certainly explain how we got so entangled so quickly.”

“We’re entangled?”

“Amongst other things.” He wraps a strand of my hair carefully around his finger. “If it wasn’t tied to the bollocks prediction about you dying tomorrow, which is still absolutely not fucking happening—thank you very much—it might be worth looking into.”

“That’s a big change of attitude coming from you.”

He just grunts.

“Is that your way of saying you like me?” I joke.

“You could take it that way, Leannan. Though I would have thought telling your parents we were engaged would have given that away.”

“Guess I’m slow sometimes.”

“Great sex will do that to you.” He presses a kiss to my head. “Go to sleep, Lilah. You’re safe with me. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know that.” I climb off him and collapse onto the bed at his side. “Do you think they leaked the engagement story to the press to try and scare me off? Then when that didn’t immediately work, your father decided to visit?”

“I honestly have no idea,” he says. “But whatever happens tomorrow, we’ll deal with it. Together.”

21

Sunday

“Leannan,” a voice whispers in my ear. “Wake up.”

My eyes open to find Alistair staring down at me. What a wonderful sight to see first thing in the morning. He carefully brushes my hair out of my face with a distracted smile. No idea how long he’s been up for, but he’s already dressed. The warm scent of his cologne and rumpled sheets beneath me make for a great morning. At least, they would under normal circumstances. But today is not normal in the least. The red in his eyes from lack of sleep attest to that. Like it or not—and I definitely do not—this could very well be my last day on Earth.Fuck.I don’t even know what to think about that. It’s an existential type of terror. From the time we’re old enough to understand death and dying, the idea of our life being over follows us around. It’s an ominous shadow with as big or as little a role to play as we allow. And right now, for me, it is a big enough stain to block out the sun.

“Hey,” I say with my best fake smile. “Is your father here?”

“About to arrive.”

“Okay.” I take a deep breath and sit up, covering my breasts with the sheet. Sunlight streams through the gap in the curtains. “What do you want me to do? Stay here or come to the main house or what?”

“Given everything, I think I’d like to keep you close today.”

“I thought you weren’t interested in the death-and-doom prediction.”

He frowns. “As much as it irks me to admit it, now that the day is here, I might be just a tiny bit concerned.”

“Okay.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you, Lilah. I won’t allow it. It took me a long time to find you. I refuse to lose you now.”

I do my best to keep my smile steady, but the urge to burst into tears of fear or happiness or I don’t know what is immense. “How long do I have to get ready?”

He winces. “Five minutes?”

“Shit.”

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