Shoulder the Skye (Skye Druids #2)(39)
Author: Donna Grant

 

Bronwyn slammed her laptop closed and shoved the computer off her lap. She had tried, unsuccessfully, to work for hours. Everything she did to the cover was wrong. She’d spent more time deleting work than actually creating it.

 

And she blamed Elias.

 

That wasn’t exactly fair. He hadn’t forced her to spill her secrets. The blame rested entirely on her shoulders. What had she been thinking telling him everything? She’d thought she would see revulsion in his eyes. Maybe even disgust. That might have helped combat the overwhelming, uncontrollable desire she felt in his presence.

 

Instead, there had been empathy and understanding. What was she supposed to do with that? She should’ve been appreciative, but she had lashed out. Because she didn’t trust anyone who didn’t see her as the horrible person she knew she was.

 

Bronwyn surged to her feet and walked the parlor, hoping to rid herself of the pent-up energy and the advancing, fervent longing that had been building since her encounter with Elias at the co-op.

 

The strings of some melody reached her through the closed parlor door. She didn’t know what Elias was doing. She tried not to care, but she was as successful at that as she was at ignoring the ache inside her that only he could quench. He hadn’t returned to the parlor after their quarrel. At first, she’d been happy that he’d left her alone. But as the hours stretched, she wondered what he was doing—and thinking.

 

Did he stare at the wall, fantasizing as she did? Did he close his eyes and wonder what it would feel like to kiss her as she longed to do? Did his skin tingle then heat when he imagined holding her as she did him?

 

Bronwyn had seen the desire in his eyes. It had been impossible to miss. She wanted to be strong enough to keep him at arm’s length. This was the worst time for him to come into her life. He kept talking about helping her, and oh, how she wished he could. But it wasn’t possible. She had accepted her fate the moment she’d first done blood magic.

 

Not once had she even entertained the thought of someone affecting her as Elias did. If she had, would she still have done the blood magic? Bronwyn looked up and thought of her cousin. The answer was yes. She owed her entire family a great debt. She was the cause of…everything.

 

The last thing she deserved was someone like Elias. It was a cruel, brutal deed by Fate to tease her so unbearably with a handsome man who had such a pure soul. He was better off far, far away from her.

 

Bronwyn yanked open the door and stalked into the hallway to listen for him. The music came from the back of the house, and somehow, she wasn’t surprised to find Elias in the kitchen. He sang along to an upbeat song as he moved between the stove and the table, where he chopped garlic and onions.

 

Whatever he was cooking smelled delicious. Her irritation soared when her stomach growled. She didn’t want to desire Elias. She certainly didn’t want to like him. She still didn’t understand what had made her agree to let him stay at the manor, but to open herself up to him in a way she had never done with anyone? Not even Beth?

 

Simply put, he had the means to end everything she was doing with one word to Rhona. Blood magic wasn’t tolerated. It didn’t matter the reason it was used. But more than that, she didn’t want to make his already complicated life more problematic by knowing her.

 

“Hey,” Elias said when he noticed her. He turned down the music, his gaze searching. “Was that too loud?”

 

She shook her head.

 

He studied her for a lengthy moment. “Hungry?”

 

She should make him leave. She should say that he was no longer welcome. The house would ensure he was gone. “I am.”

 

“It’ll be done shortly.” Elias moved back to the stove and stirred whatever was in the pan.

 

Bronwyn’s gaze moved to his tee, the long sleeves pushed to his elbows. She took in the muscles of his forearms that bunched and flexed before letting her eyes rake over his broad shoulders. Sizzling, wanton desire hummed through her. She struggled to bring air into her lungs as she imagined those amazing arms gathering her against him before he lifted her onto the counter, spread her legs, and pressed himself against her.

 

Her lips parted on a shaky breath as wetness flooded her panties. She wanted to run back to the parlor and forget about Elias and his sinfully sexy voice and eyes that saw to her soul. She’d gotten really good at keeping her walls up and everyone out. He made her reconsider things, yearn and wish for things she couldn’t have—not in this life. Not after everything.

 

“Everything all right?” he asked.

 

Bronwyn nodded and forced herself to walk to the cupboards. She got out plates and utensils while trying not to stare at Elias. She’d thought she knew what kind of man he was when he’d helped her against Sydney. Then, she’d thought she knew who he was when the Knights came for him. He had upended all of that by his reaction to learning her secrets. Which begged the question: What kind of man was he to willingly stay with someone like…her?

 

Thanks to Sydney, she knew what wickedness looked like, and Elias was the opposite of that. While she might not be the best at reading people, the greatest actor in the world couldn’t have pulled off Elias’s shock at learning that he was wanted for murder. He hadn’t taken that man’s life, though she had no way to prove it. The person she’d look at was Sydney, because it sounded exactly like something the arsehole would do.

 

As Elias moved around the kitchen, focused on cooking, she thought back to the day so many years earlier when she had fallen. She and every other female in school had had a crush on Elias. It didn’t matter that he was older. He had been one of those people who just had something special about them, a kind of spark that was impossible to resist. It wasn’t only his good looks, it was his smile and innate goodness.

 

That embarrassing morning had begun like any other. Her dad had dropped her off at school because her mum hadn’t left the bed in days. Bronwyn had spotted Elias instantly as if someone had told her exactly where to look. He was surrounded by friends and girls who sought his attention.

 

Bronwyn had drunk in everything about him, from the blue jean jacket he wore over the white shirt to the way he shoved his hands through his dark blond hair. Her dad had been speaking the entire time, but she hadn’t paid attention. How could she when she was so focused on Elias?

 

Once she got out of the car and started toward the school entrance, Bronwyn realized that she had to walk past Sarah and the popular kids. She had once yearned to be in that group—or any faction if she were honest. She just wanted to fit in, and where else other than among her community should she have been welcomed? But she had never found a place. She’d once heard someone say there was something odd about her. She didn’t know what that was, but others still recognized it—whatever it was.