Page 40 of Hunted Temptation
Home.
I still can’t believe that this is my life, that this is my home. I’m not quite sure what is going to happen between us, but for the first time in my entire life, I'm excited for what is coming. Even if it ends in complete destruction, at least it would be a destruction of my choosing.
Walking around, I go in search of him, but it’s as I suspected. I’m alone. Wrinkling my nose, I let out a sigh. I know I should love this, being alone. I should let out a heavy sigh of relief, but I don’t. The last thing I want to be right now is alone.
Coffee doesn’t interest me, so I try to find something to eat. Thankfully, Vaughn ordered some food. So I make myself a bowl of Greek yogurt, fruit, and granola. Last night, Vaughn showed me how to use the television. So I turn that on and find something to watch.
Though I have no idea what it is. It’s a show about people from America going to live abroad for love. It’s fascinating what people will do for what they perceive as love. I’m not sure what love is, but I don’t think I could run off to another country for someone I don’t even know.
But then, as the realization sinks in, I have done just that. This is a whole different world for me. I’m all the way across the country. I don’t know anyone except Vaughn, and I don’t really know him either.
Oh god.
I’m like those people.
I’ve allowed this man to take me across the country, and I don’t know anything about him. I don’t even know his last name. Granted, he’s saved me, but is he just the devil I know? Because I already know that Vaughn isn’t an innocent man.
But at the same time, he’s saved me. His knighthood could all be a facade, though. I’m beyond conflicted. I don’t know which way is up, and I’m falling hard for him. Tumbling and sinking, really. I don’t know what is going to happen, and I’ve never been so excited to see it happen at the same time.
I’m not sure how long I stay sitting on the couch, watching this television show and thinking about how much I can identify with them. When the streaming service asks me if I’m still watching, I decide to go ahead and take a shower.
Sillily, I hurry with my shower, afraid that if I take too long, I’ll miss something. I’m not sure what I’m going to miss, but I hurry anyway.
When I’m finished, I dress in my favorite leisure outfit, the pink formfitting tank that hits me just above my belly button and the tight pink biker shorts that are probably a little too tight and too short, but I don’t care.
I walk into the kitchen knowing I should probably eat something, but as I look around inside the fridge, then the pantry, I decide I have no idea what I’m doing. There’s no way I can make much of anything out of the items in this house.
It would help if I could cook. I can cut up some things, but actual cooking is something that is not in my wheelhouse. I’m not sure how long I stand in the kitchen trying to figure out what to make or how to cook.
When the front door opens, I turn my head to the side and watch as Vaughn walks through. He doesn’t stop until he’s in the kitchen, and only then does he tip his chin, and his eyes find mine.
“Hungry?” he asks.
My mouth goes dry at the sight of him in front of me, wearing a pair of slacks and a button-down white shirt that has been rolled up at the sleeves and shows off his muscles. It goes so dry that when I swallow, nothing happens.
“Starving,” I exhale.
He grunts and, without another word, quickly closes the distance between us. His arms wrap around me, and then his mouth slams against mine, and his tongue fills me.
Tasting me.
Owning me.
Yum.
Chapter Sixteen
ELODIE
Another day,another empty bed. It’s become the norm for me to wake up alone, and maybe I should mind. I don’t, though. Every morning, I wake up completely satiated, achy in the best ways, and at peace. So, if he’s not beside me, that’s okay, because I know he’ll be coming back here—tohishome—to me, soon.
His. Home.
I don’t dare think of it as mine. That is a luxury I’m not sure I can accept. Because if he decides that he really doesn’t want to keep me, I’ll be sad, but if I allow myself to think of this place, of this world, as mine, if I imagine a true future with him, and he doesn’t want to keep me, I’ll be devastated.
Reaching over, I find the sheets warm to the touch, which means he hasn’t been awake long, but if I know Vaughn at all, even if he lay here, he probably wasn’t asleep. He doesn’t seem to sleep much.
Slipping out of bed, I go in search of him. I don’t expect to find him anywhere in the house, figuring he got up and left asper his usual, but there he is, standing in the kitchen with his back to me… looking absolutely gorgeous, as always.
