Romance MF: A Suspense Story With A Dark Hidden Secret (romance short story, suspense romance, romantic short stories, adult romance Book 1) Read Free Page A

in one place, I told you. I start to get antsy, I want to see what’s around the next corner. Haven’t you ever felt that way? Like just quitting your job, taking off somewhere?”
                  “I couldn’t do that,” he said laughing and shaking his head, “too many responsibilities.”
                  Lily kept looking at him and he could feel the piercing gaze of her blue eyes trying to figure him out. Almost as if she could sense that he wasn’t being completely honest, that there was more to him that met the eye, and more than he was admitting to.
                  He couldn’t deny that Lily evoked in him a sense of jealousy, but there was also hope. She was a living embodiment of everything he had imagined but been unable to achieve or grasp himself. It required courage, to live the way she did, from moment to moment, day to day. It was like the future didn’t exist to her, but because there was only the now she was immeasurably happier.
                  She seemed to scoff at him with a little muted chuckle and looked back out the window, her fist under her chin. Her long hair had started to dry and he turned the heat down. Her thin arms seemed hunched forward, probably from carrying such a heavy backpack. Like him, she was probably wiry under those clothes, the lean sort of muscle that came from being used every day. Her small breasts under the layers of wool sweaters heaved as she took in a deep long grateful breath.
                  “Port Angeles is just up ahead,” he said quietly. “Is there somewhere you want to get dropped off?”
                  She smiled again. “Thanks, Shane. It doesn’t really matter.”
                  “Do you have a hotel reservation or…” he felt kind of stupid for asking. Where does a girl like Lily stay anyway , he wondered.
                  “No, that’s okay. There’s probably a shelter or something, I’ll ask my way around,” she said, bundling up her raincoat again and putting it in her lap as he pulled off onto the main exit.
                  Shane balked. She had nowhere to go, no plans whatsoever. A storm had started to come in off the coast, blotting out the sky almost as if by magic. It was still late afternoon but it well could have been evening the way the sun had disappeared, and he felt something twist in his gut. An uncertainty.
                  He stopped in a parking lot of a McDonald’s and Lily undid her seat belt and stretched into the backseat to grab her pack and he caught another whiff of her. That same warm familiar scent that reminded him of a cozy cottage, a fireplace, a nest of blankets. Something that was comforting.
                  “I’m glad you picked me up, Shane. It was really nice of you, honest. I wish I had something to give you in return. Still, it was a good conversation. I hope you find what you’re looking for,” she smiled at him, pulling on her raincoat again.
                  She opened the door and he felt another grip of panic. Like if he didn’t say something right now he’d regret it forever and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. He didn’t believe in the paranormal, and to him there was such a thing as coincidence. The tendency to believe in fate or synchronicity, he had always thought, was a weak-minded way of trying to account for things that didn’t make sense. A way to make circumstances fit desire.
                  There were coincidences every day, but that didn’t make them any less special when they happened, he realized. For better or worse, Lily was a happy coincidence. He had chosen to stop and give her a ride. And in return, she had given him a glimpse into a way of living he had only dreamed about or read in books.
                  “Wait!” he said quickly, and Lily froze, looking in at him.