Page 20 of Arranged Obsession
I take a step back, my stomach lurching with sudden fear.
“You couldn’t sleep,” he says. His voice is low and resonant. It sends a sudden spark straight into my core. Finn never made me feel like this. As if I’m being slowly, carefully, meticulously undressed, quivering with need the whole time.
It’s freaking me out.
I should make some excuse. Get the hell out of here. Adriano warned me to stay away from Cormac, and I think he’s right.
But there’s that smell again. Heady, smoky, spicy. The perfect bouquet. I take a deep breath and nearly let out a groan.
Cormac’s wreathed in it.
I take a step closer. “Guess not. Looks like you found my favorite room in the house.”
He closes the book in his lap. “You spend a lot of time in here?”
“When I’m not at Grace House, I’m here or in my rooms.”
“Grace House?”
“It’s a women’s shelter I volunteer at.”
I expect him to make some pithy comment. Most mafia assholes I’ve met think it’s silly that I give up all my time to charity. He only nods once.
“I like libraries,” he says. “They’re quiet.”
I don’t even know how to respond. I keep looking at him, though, and breathing deep. What was my ghost doing in here? Does he have something to do with Cormac? A million questions swirl around my head, and I wish this guy would stop looking at me like that.
“Your brother seems nice.” I keep edging closer. Like I’m dancing along the edge of a steep fall.
“He’s a good man.”
“You think so? Maybe you should marry him then.” I grin weakly at the dumb joke.
He doesn’t smile back. “Nothing’s easy in our family. But you’ll be welcome.”
“Right, nothing’s easy,” I murmur, feeling so deeply uncomfortable but unable to get away. I steal a glance down at the book in his lap but totally miss the title. Instead, I’m looking at his muscular thighs, and god damn, this man is stacked. In an extremely distracting way. “What do you, uh, think of Philadelphia?”
“It’s good.”
“Enjoying your stay?”
“Sure.”
“Not much of a talker, are you?”
His jaw tightens. He doesn’t answer.
I’m standing too close now. But my god, there’s that smell again. I breathe it in and stare at him, trying to make it fit in my head. Cormacreekslike my ghost, but that can’t be right. My ghost must’ve been sitting right in that chair. Only, how doesn’t he notice?
Maybe I’m just in tune to the smell. Since I’m so stupidly obsessed with it, I can’t miss it now. But a normal person, or at least a person that’snotconstantly sniffing stuff, wouldn’t even realize he’s sitting right in the middle of it.
Cormac’s stare burns into me. I’m squirming and on edge, but I’m drawn to him. He’s barely said anything, and I already feel like I’m burning up in the five minutes I’ve been around him, even more than the hour I spent with his brother. I don’t get it, and I’m not sure I really want to.
“Can I ask you something? About Finn?”
“Go ahead.” He doesn’t seem happy to answer.
“Do you think he’s going to want children?” I blurt it out, feeling absolutely stupid, because ofcoursehe will. That’s the whole point. We marry, we breed, we establish a connection between our families forever. My cheeks start burning red. I’m embarrassed I even asked.
