Heartless Hunter (Crimson Moth, #1)

by Kristen Ciccarelli

It was why Rune never cut herself. She couldn’t afford to let them find the scars.

The two Sharpe brothers couldn’t be more different.

“Your laugh is like a fuse,” he said. “It lights you up.”

It shouldn’t feel this good to make her happy.

His body buzzed at the lack of her. As if Rune in his arms was the only true thing in the world, and until she was there again, everything was wrong.

“I remember the sound of your laugh,” he said as the back door of the house came into view. “It pulled me like a magnet toward the beach, where I found the most beautiful girl in the world standing on the shore.”

Taking her face in his palms, he guided her eyes back to his. “Tell me.” Her jaw was clenched, so he ran his thumb along its edge until she relaxed.

Rune was a bright light burning in a long, dark night.

“Rune, I haven’t stopped thinking about you for three straight days.”

And unlike Verity, who was a fire constantly spurring her on, Alex was a cool spring, giving her a place to rest and recover, reminding her that she was a girl with needs and weaknesses, not some invincible savior.

“Gideon, the thought of you inside that building … it felt like being held underwater.” She lowered her gaze to the pulse at the base of his throat. “Like being starved of air.”

“You have never been more beautiful than this moment.” The words made her pulse kick. What? He stepped closer. Lifting his hand to her hair, he tangled his fingers in it. “You’re exquisite, Rune.”

I’m in love with him. Instead of getting Gideon Sharpe out of her system tonight, Rune had gone and gotten herself addicted. The hunted had fallen for the hunter.

“I can be civil.” She raised an eyebrow, as if to say, Can you? For you, yes. She bit down on her lip again, thinking. “And you’ll dance with me?” “That’s a given.”

THE NEXT MORNING, GIDEON woke to a sleeping Rune tucked against his chest. Right where she was supposed to be.

Rune had told Gideon that buttercups were her favorite flower, and instead of picking some, he sewed them for her.