Read Blessed (Book 2, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) for Free Online

excellent plan to me.”
    Brand took one of my hands in his when we stopped at a stoplight on the highway and, before I knew it, we were in his driveway.
    “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to traveling like that,” I told him.
    “It gets old after a while. You miss a lot of what’s going on around you. Sometimes it’s more fun to do it the slow way, but I’m too impatient and selfish when it comes to our alone time. I can’t justify driving ten minutes when we could be doing this.”
    With his last word, he phased us to his bedroom, and helped me forget all my troubles, at least for one night.
     
     

CHAPTER THREE
    When I woke up the next morning, I found Brand sitting casually in a chair beside the bed, watching me.
    “Why are you sitting way over there?” I asked. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep in his arms the night before.
    “I thought it was more appropriate. Lying next to you all night could have caused a problem.”
    “What problem?”
    Brand grinned like he wasn’t sure how to explain what he was thinking. “It’s hard enough to just kiss you without taking things further, Lilly. Trust me. Your chastity is much safer if I don’t stay in bed with you all night every night.”
    “Oh.” Now I understood and felt a slight thrill, knowing the effect I had on him.
    Brand drove me back to my apartment so I could get ready for school. Tara didn’t say anything or look at me funnily when we walked into the apartment together. Apparently, she’d accepted what I told her the previous night about wanting to spend as much time as I could with Brand far more easily than I’d thought she would. She’d always been my protector, and now she was willing to hand that job over to Brand, at least partly. I think she was secretly relieved I had him to watch over me. It was highly unlikely anything would happen to me while in his presence.
    I wasn’t looking forward to going to my classes. I was sure everyone would be looking at me strangely, thinking I was a scarlet woman for having spent a week with a man like Malcolm in Las Vegas. And, to be honest, if I were them, I would probably be thinking the same thing. I tried not to worry about what other people thought but, even though you want to pretend it doesn’t matter what strangers think of you, there is always that small voice inside your head, yearning to be accepted by all. No matter how hard I tried, the butterflies in my stomach would not abate their fluttering.
    Thankfully, my first class was with Brand. As long as I was with him, I could handle anything life put in my way, including a room full of curious stares and quiet gossiping.
    When Dr. Floyd entered the room, I could see he was making an effort not to stare at me directly, but I did see him shake his head a bit as he handed out a set of papers to the class. When I looked at the papers, I realized it was a test. My heart began to pound inside my chest. Obviously, I hadn’t studied or prepared to take the test at all. I did read the chapters he’d assigned, but I wasn’t sure I could remember enough detail to answer the questions lain out before me in perfect type.
    Everyone else around me was busily answering the questions, while I looked down at the test in front of me with a despondent heart. I felt a lot like you do when you dream you’ve shown up to class without any clothes on, except I had shown up without enough knowledge inside my head. Great, I really was going to be the bottom of the bell curve now. So much for Brand’s grand idea that I was going to ace my first test in this class. I looked over at Brand and he nodded his head as if saying ‘Come on, you can do it’. He began answering his own test questions with unimaginable speed.
    I decided answering at least part of the questions I knew was better than not answering anything at all. I took a deep breath and read the first question.
    And then it happened.
    Just like the phasing I’d been able to do to get out of