Read Learning to Drown for Free Online Page A

you’ve known him a whole
hour, genius,” I whispered. The orgasm rushed over me. It took me down in a
knee weakening rush and then started to die off a bit too fast. I could have
drawn the release out but fatigue was winning. I was grateful for it, too,
because it let me not examine what I was feeling for my rescuer. Or was he my
warden now?
    I opened my eyes and screamed. My
voice big and booming and then gone from my throat. I yelped again but nothing
came from me but a wheeze. He stood there watching me, just a small grin on his
face. I hadn’t heard a sound. Not the door or the curtain. No steps on the
tile. He was like smoke. A voyeuristic ghost who had just watched me get off.
And had heard me talking to myself. About him!
    “I’m pretty captivating,” he said.
    I wanted to liquefy right there. Swirl
down the drain like a ribbon of water. “I…” Cracking from the stress of it, I
started to cry all over again. I cried from my huge frustration, because part
of me was completely turned on that he had just watched me. That he knew. Part
of me was jubilant. What the fuck did that mean? I was so confused.
“You’ll figure it out,” he said. “It’s very difficult sometimes to figure out
just how you’re bent.” That was all he said. He ripped the curtain open all the
way and held a huge red bath sheet open wide. I waited a moment. Stark naked,
dripping on the cool tile, getting cold fast.
    Lucas stared. No embarrassment, no
tell of any kind. I thought briefly that he must be a hell of a Poker player.
But his face was kind. Handsome without being pretty. His huge hands holding
warmth open for me. Comfort within my reach.
    I took a deep breath and stepped into
the warm embrace of the red towel and Lucas Crow.
    * * * *
    The omelet was kick ass. Better than
any I’d ever had in a restaurant. Some mild white cheese, mushroom, sautéed
onions, a hint of garlic. And toast. Toast had never tasted so good to me. A
few strips of crisp bacon and another steaming cup of coffee. I couldn’t
remember being so happy to have breakfast for dinner, or more grateful to be
safe and clean and warm. I was so peaceful I managed to not be mortified. I
wasn’t angry at Lucas for spying on me or invading my privacy. Or any of the
things I would normally be fuming about. Instead, I felt glowy and pretty and
secure. “So you steal cars?”
    He stopped, mid-bite and grinned. That
grin lit me up on the inside. Like taking a shot of liquor and feeling it warm
as it traveled lower and lower. I shifted in my seat, determined not to feel
the arousal I felt every time I looked at him. He laughed. “No. I repossess
vehicles from people who have reneged on their commitment to pay.”
    “Ah. Got it. You’re like what’s his
name in that 80s movie.”
    “I am in no way like anything from the
eighties,” he said. He swigged some more coffee and then stood, opened a
cabinet, poured a shot of whiskey into his mug. Without asking, he slopped a
dollop into my coffee.
    “I don’t like whiskey,” I said. My
head buzzed with how close and warm the kitchen felt.
    “Drink it. It’ll get your system all
ironed out. You were cold to the bone. Then all that hot, hot water on top of
it.” His gaze slid over me again and I felt naked as opposed to wrapped in his
oversized sweat clothes. “It will reboot your system. Get you settled.”
    I sipped it and felt the burn of
coffee and liquor on my tongue. Searing down the back of my throat. The whiskey
warmed an auburn trail through me, I hummed. “Not as bad as I thought it
would be.” Lucas put his hand forward, slow and steady like I might spook. He
smoothed the hair from my forehead and shook his head, a frown bowing his
mouth. “What?” I asked.
    “I should go kick his ass, is all.”
His brown eyes had turned darker. Nearly black in the pale buttery light of the
ceiling fixture. He swigged down the rest of his coffee and dialed on his cell.
“Marcus? Hey man, it’s Lucas Crow, let me ask