Southern Storms (Compass 1)

“You make me want to get better,” I whispered as his strong arms held me close.

He planted a kiss on my forehead. “You’re making me better,” he replied.

We decided to eat dinner and drink all the wine before getting to work in the library. There were so many books to try to pull in order to unlock the secret passage to a hidden room, and there was a good chance we’d be there all night long.

I didn’t mind that one bit. Being locked in the library with Jax Kilter—I could’ve thought of worse ways to spend a night.

We invented a game where we’d go to different parts of the library and pull random books to read passages from. Anyone else in the world might’ve thought we were nerds for this, but honestly, it was the most fun I’d had in a long time. Having a big, strong—and slightly tipsy—man read excerpts from The Odyssey was much more of a turn-on than one would think.

The way words rolled off Jax’s tongue sent chills down my spine. I could have listened to him read to me for the rest of my life, and still it wouldn’t have been enough of his words.

“Pull a book and flip to page ninety-four. Read the fourth paragraph,” he ordered for our sixteenth round of the game.

I pulled out a novel entitled Midnight Mansion by Graham Russell, the great horror author, and began to read. “‘His hands were soaked in gasoline, and his breath was coated with an aged whiskey that no longer burned on the way down. He’d been drinking for days, yet still, it only felt like hours. The loneliness of the passing weeks ticked by as he rustled through the old photographs of the woman he loved who was now a named killer. He wondered to himself how he could’ve loved someone so dark, but realization settled in that the darkest people were the most fun to be infatuated with. He craved disappointment, and Leslie always gave it to him.’”

Gosh.

I missed writing. Whenever I read strong words, I wanted to fall back into them.

“My turn,” Jax said from across the way.

“Okay, pull a book, page one hundred and four, paragraph five.”

He cleared his throat and began reading. “‘Iris, don’t let go,’ Harry begged, pulling on her tattered T-shirt. ‘If you go now, I’ll be here alone. I don’t know how to get back to town. I don’t know when or where I’m supposed to go. I don’t know how to breathe unless you are guiding me. This place is filled with war, and you are my peace. So, please, don’t let me go.’”

My heart leaped into my throat, and I turned to my left to see Jax standing there with a book in his hand, and not just any book. My book.

“Where did you get that?” I asked.

“It was on the shelves.”

I shook my head. “I doubt it was on the shelves.”

“I might’ve put it there,” he replied. He walked over to me and took my hand in his. “You’re an amazing author, Kennedy.”

I snickered. “You can’t know that from one paragraph.”

“I know,” he agreed. “That’s why I read them all.”

“You…” I breathed out slowly. “You’ve read my book?”

“I did. It’s powerful and moving, like you. You are powerful and moving.”

“Jax…” Before I could finish my thought, Jax moved to the wall a few shelves away from me, pulled out a certain novel, and lo and behold, the hidden room opened. It was filled with more shelves of books, a beautiful lounge couch, and an oversized chair and ottoman. I could’ve spent the rest of my life in that room and been okay.

I laughed. “You knew where it was this whole time?”

“Guilty as charged.”

I wanted to smack his arm, but more than that, I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to pull him into the beautifully hidden nook, fall onto his body, and kiss him hard and long. As I stared into the room, I began to turn to speak to Jax, and he was right there. He was in front of me, staring down at me as if I were something he wanted to ravish before the end of the night.

“If it’s okay with you, I think I’m done reading for tonight,” I whispered as I trailed a finger down his chest.

“Do you want to leave?” he asked as his stare lingered on my lips. When he looked back up at me, his eyes were dilated, and the want I was feeling was completely seen within him.

“No,” I said on an exhalation.

He moved in closer and rested his forehead on mine. “You want to go into the nook with me, Sun?”

“Yes.”

“You want to kiss me inside the nook, Sun?”

“Yes.” Yes, yes, yes…

“You want to take off our clothes inside there, Sun?” he said softly against my lips before sucking on the bottom one.