UNSHAKABLE (Able Series Book 4) Read Free Page A

and you’ve lived your life . . . maybe then, we’ll have our chance.”
    As soon as I hear her sniffles, I turn and leave. If there’s one thing I know I can’t defeat, it’s her tears especially when they’re because of me. I have to stay strong, stick to the plan of allowing her to live her life before allowing even a sliver of hope in my heart to take root.
    I holster my gun as I try to forget what I just remembered. “It’s okay; it’s just your nerves. You want to talk about it?”
    She’s frozen in place like a statue.
    I clear my voice to take the edge off. “You’re safe here, Sophia. The threat is gone. You can relax.” My calm voice is clearly in disagreement with her feelings.
    She starts shaking her head, allowing her fears to get the best of her while I bravely take a step forward and calmly say to her. “Sophia, look at me.” I’m trying to maintain a smooth and even voice as much as possible.
    Slowly, she turns and locks her eyes with mine.
    “Walk back to me, Sophia. Please.”
    With grace that matches no other, she moves and stops directly in front of me. Her auburn hair is messily piled on her head, her face free of make-up glows like an angel’s, her pink lips are so plump anyone would want to own them, but it’s her green beguiling eyes combined with their alluring honey streaks that captivate my brain enough for me to forget what the hell I need to do. I squeeze my eyes shut for a fraction of a second, and when I open them her gaze is already on me.
    “I’m right here. What now?”
    “When you get overwhelmed, especially out there . . .” I point out the window to make a point. “ . . . take deep breaths and count to ten while focusing on something good; go to your happy place. That helps. Can you do that for me now?”
    I’m expecting her to look anywhere but at me, but my little Wildflower looks straight at me pursing her lips as she breathes in and out.
    “Do you feel it leave your body?” I ask without breaking eye contact.
    She nods. “Yes. . . .”
    Giving her a nod of my own I counter, “Good.”
    She narrows her eyes into slits. “Why are you being nice to me? It’ll be better if you’re mean or indifferent. It’s hard to fight this . . .” She starts flailing her hand back and forth between us. “ . . . my feelings which you’re feeling too but refuse to act on. I swear this is pure torture.” The hurt in her eyes doesn’t match the anger in her voice.
    The tips of my lips tilt. “First off, I don’t enjoy torturing you. What we feel for each other may be torture to you since acting on it seems to be an impossibility. But in my eyes, it’s a torture I welcome because surrendering to it is easier than letting it go.”
    She cocks her head again to the side. “So, you’re saying you’d rather suffer not being with me, just to be around me? That doesn’t make any sense. We can be together without experiencing all this pain.”
    “It may not make sense to you, but it does to me. I understand your desire to be with me, trust me, I do. I feel it every damn second, but I’m not ready to give up being with you every single day to only be with you for just a day.” I smirk to myself. “We’d be lucky if we’d get a day.”
    She lets out a pain filled laugh. “We can’t win for losing, right? I don’t know whether to envy you that you can control your emotions or get mad that I can’t. I have feelings that show. I can’t hide them. You’re a prisoner of yourself.”
    “I guess I am. But, I’d rather be a prisoner if the tradeoff is seeing you every day.”
    “While you watch over me.” My heart contracts painfully hearing the sadness in her voice.
    With her inches away from me, I do the unthinkable—I touch her. My hand lands on her face cupping it gently, allowing my thumb to brush against the apple of her cheek. Mere seconds or minutes, that’s what I’m giving myself, and then it’s time to disengage.
    “But that’s just it, I want you