No Time to Cry (Nine While Nine Legacy Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

shrugged. I should just say no. Now
that we were here, all the reality came crashing back down. I couldn’t pretend
anymore, somewhere in my mind, that I was on a fun, absolutely normal road
trip. But I guess ‘ok’ was as close as I was getting. “Sure, I guess.”
    Liam stroked my cheek, and I felt that
mysterious ‘otherness’ of him. Did I feel that way too now?
    I touched his stubble-rough cheek.
“You’re all scruffy,” I said simply, drowsy still.
    “Yeah, well…” He shrugged.
    I didn’t want to leave the car; the
closed in safeness, and sameness, and warmth of his car. Once I set foot out of
it, the next step to this new life— unlife —would
begin. And for now I was still me, the old me…sort of.
    He was still leaning over me, across the
center console, still looking at me, as if her were trying to read my thoughts
through my face, my eyes.
    And then I was kissing him, kissing
Death—or Death’s assistant—or an employee from Death’s office—or whatever! I’d
gone from touching his cheek, to running my hand into the spiky mess of his
hair, to the back of his head…pulling him to me. And his mouth was wonderful.
And he kissed me back with no hesitation. It had been so long, way too long, since
I’d kissed. And it made me remember long ago crazy fun nights. Music and
laughter; concerts and parties with friends. Care free, wild, and spontaneous.
    And then he broke the kiss.
    Smiling.
    There was only the sound of our
breathing and the rain hitting the car.
    “I’ve wanted to do that for at least the
last five hundred miles.” He breathed into my hair, and then rested his
forehead to mine. “Let’s get you inside,” he spoke softly.
    I shook my head.
    “You planning on sleeping in here?” he
grinned.
    “I don’t want to sleep.”
    He retreated to his side of the car,
took the keys, and stepped out into the rain.
    I sighed. What was I doing? I put the
seat back upright and pulled his coat off of me. It was so warm, and now I
really felt the chill of the Seattle evening as he opened my door, offering his
hand to help me out. I shook my head again. “What happens next?” I asked.
    “We go upstairs. I take your things, and
you, and we go up to my apartment. Maybe have some tea,” he looked at his
watch, “or maybe an ale.”
     I shook my head, not taking his
hand, not moving from the spot. He merely looked at me, questioningly.
    “It just seems to me that once I get out
of this car, nothing will ever be the same, I’ll be gone for good? I don’t
know…”
    He reached both arms in around me and
pulled me out. I stumbled, unbalanced, and fell against him. He held me there
to him.
    “See…still here. Nothing to be afraid
of.” He released me and went to pull my belongings from the trunk. My body
missed the heat of his, and I shivered.
    Liam’s apartment was on the second floor
of a converted Queen Anne style house. It was nicer than I had imagined he’d
have, I don’t know why. I somehow thought he’d have something more modern and
perhaps in downtown, a high-rise perhaps. I liked this better. It was a little
cluttered, but in a good way; lived in and full of warmth.
    After dropping my things at the entry he
took my hand and led me to the living room. He settled me on a comfy monster of
a couch. “Be right back.”
     I ran my hand over the plush
upholstery. It was dark green and so wonderfully soft that I found myself
wanting to nestle down into it for another nap. But I felt agitated, fidgety.
Too much broken up sleep maybe? I didn’t want to sleep.
    I left the sofa and made my way to the
window, looking out to watch the rain and the people down below making their
way to somewhere. 
    Liam found me at the window and handed
me a bottle of Guinness, then plopped down onto the ottoman in front of me.
    I looked at the bottle, felt the wet
coldness in my hand, and thought briefly that a nice steaming cup of tea would
better suit me, but shrugged and took a drink. I’d never had