WIth a Twist: (The Club #9) Read Online Free Page A

wasn’t so naive that I didn’t believe in dragons. Dragons still existed, they’ve learned to mask their evil better. Now you could be sitting right next to them and you’d never know it.
     

Chapter Seven
    Starr
     
    I sat there on the couch, twisting my fingers together, and then apart. I’d stand up and pace around, then sit back down again. Only to repeat the whole process over. I’d spent the past twenty-three and a half hours thinking in circles about everything that had happened since I saw Bryant at The Club. He was such a contradiction, somehow I thought he’d always keep me on my toes. And wasn’t that what I’d always wanted? I tried to think back about books or movies I liked, and I was always drawn to the ones where the main characters challenged each other, maybe brought out the best in each other.
    I’d spent a considerable amount of time doing research on the internet. Trying to forget everything mama had ever said about love, and took into account all of her failed relationships. After everything was said and done, what it boiled down to was if I was eighty and I looked back at this exact moment and I hadn’t trusted in Bryant and I hadn’t taken the risk and saw where this went, would I regret it? And the answer was yes, I had to see where this went. Sure, it could burn hot and burn out in days, weeks, months, but my oh my, what kind of days and nights would they be?
    Besides, I had always been an excellent judge of character, my “force” had saved me from getting into a bad situation many times in the past. If he just wanted to have sex with me, he would have tried something the other night, and there was no way he would wait twenty-four hours to see me again. He didn’t seem like the type of guy that ever had to wait for anything.
    Before I knew it, there was a knock on my door. With his resources, I knew that he’d find out where I lived, and that didn’t bother me. In fact, if he hadn’t taken the time and effort, even if it was just to make a phone call and have someone else find it, that would have told me he wasn’t committed to seeing this through.
    Once again, I was in jeans and an old flannel shirt. I had no idea what we were doing today, but I wanted to be comfortable. I may not be your typical princess, but in my heart, I knew I was worthy.
    I looked up into his serious face and smiled. “Right on time.”
    “You’re important to me. And don’t you ever look through the peephole before you open the door?”
    I frowned. “How did you know I didn’t look through the peephole?”
    “Here.” He pulled me outside the door and held up a finger, he went inside the apartment and closed the door. I frowned and looked at the peephole, which had a bright light coming out of it, then it was blocked before the light shone back through. He opened the door back up. “See? You can never be sure, what if it wasn’t me?”
    “You’re right. I’ll keep that in mind.”
    Bryant smiled. “Thank you.” He pulled me into his arms. “God, it’s been a long twenty-four hours. Tell me.”
    “Can’t you tell?”
    “Yes, but I want to hear you say it.”
    I nodded, fully understanding why he needed to hear it. “I can’t walk away from this. I don’t know what is going to happen, where it will lead, but I couldn’t live with myself if I did.”
    His eyes shone bright and his head dipped and his lips touched mine for the first time. It wasn’t like any other kiss I’d ever had. It was so gentle and filled with love. I’d heard of kisses that the world stood still for, but until this very moment, I was sure it was a myth. I wasn’t even sure of how to explain it, the feeling went so deep. I never wanted to leave this world we were creating.
    “Wow,” I whispered.
    “Yeah.”
    “You should have done that when we first met; if you had, the last twenty-four hours we could have spent together instead of apart.”
    He groaned. “What are you trying to do to me?”
    “Letting