Impulse by Vanessa Garden Read Free Book Online Page B

‘Miranda…’ he hesitated for a while after my name, ‘you can come in here whenever you like and wake me, no matter what. That’s why I’ve put you in the adjoining room. I wanted you as close to me as possible while you settle in.’
    His words gave me mental images of us ‘as close as possible’ on his bed.
    â€˜Oh. Okay.’ I forced my eyes away from his sexy, sleep-hooded ones, the pupils dilated so that his eyes seemed dark, bottomless pools.
    I needed to get out of there before I flung myself at him. He hadn’t yet indicated that he still felt the same way about me. Perhaps he still cared—but just not in that way.He still needed me, after all, for Marin; even if he didn’t want me.
    The more I thought about it the more it made sense. He would have told me on the beach, when we’d reunited for the first time, that he still wanted me in that way. He would have demonstrated it physically, somehow, like in a passionate kiss. But he hadn’t. He had probably just turned up at the beach out of politeness, because of his promise; a chaperone to an underwater city and nothing more. Or—and I didn’t want to entertain this thought but I had to be realistic—his reasons for showing up were more than likely to do with Marin’s lack of an heir.
    â€˜Why are you staring at me like that?’ Marko ran a hand through his mussed hair and smiled in a way that made my heart melt. ‘Do I have sleep creases on my face or something?’
    â€˜Oh…it’s nothing. I think I’ve got ocean-lag, but…I’m finally feeling sleepy.’
    Marko nodded and eyed me thoughtfully. ‘You’d let me know if you were feeling ill or if anything was wrong? I’d like to think that we’re friends enough for you to trust me.’
    And there it was— friends. Oh God. I’d been friend-zoned by the guy I was in love with.
    â€˜I do trust you.’ My throat tightened and my eyes stung. A dark feeling spread through my chest, as though a great hollow had opened up and sucked my heart into oblivion. I felt stupid to have hung my hopes so high on the idea of Marko and I being together after a year apart.
    â€˜Okay…so, goodnight.’ I waved, like an idiot, before scurrying out of his room.
    Closing the door behind me, I leant against it, catching my breath. In a bid to stem the impending tears I sank myteeth into my bottom lip and counted to ten, then twenty, then thirty, until a strange calm passed over me.
    In a sense, knowing that Marko only saw me as a friend gave me some kind of clarity. Instead of focusing on flirting and guessing his feelings towards me I could concentrate on the other reason I came down to Marin: to make certain the city and Marko were safe, and to find out once and for all if Sylvia was as true as Marko believed.
    I ended up reading into the early hours. It wasn’t until halfway through the book before my eyes became heavy and I finally fell asleep.
    While sleeping, I dreamed Marko came into my room. Bare-chested, and looking like some kind of dark-haired angel, he knelt down beside the bed and pressed his wine-stained lips, feather-light, against my own, before disappearing into the blackness of sleep.

CHAPTER SIX
    T HE NEXT MORNING , remembering Marko’s promise of a visit to the gardens, I dragged myself out of bed, forcing the memory of last night’s depressing conversation out of my head, and opened the wardrobe, pulling on a pair of blue jeans and a fitted black-and-white striped stretch top. The temperature in Marin was controlled into seasons by their source of energy, the light crystals. If I remembered correctly, it was the end of their summer and the beginning of autumn. I eyeballed Marko’s door and debated knocking on it to see if he was awake, when I noticed that it was slightly ajar. Certain that I’d closed it last night, I wondered if maybe I hadn’t dreamed