Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon Investigations Book 5) by Morgan Kelley Page A

you, and I hate it here. It’s not because of you. I lost my whole family here. My sister was killed too. My mother was driven to take her life. My damn father hung himself in the citadel. I want to be sick when I think of this place.”
    “I’m sorry.” She went to move away, but he stopped her.
    “I lost you here too. Yes, I had a year with Devora, but I didn’t fall in love with her. I fell in love with you, Mattie. It was love at first sight, and I feel cheated. I wanted you, not someone who looked like you. Had I known what she did, I would have broken it off with her. I hate that you think I would have stayed with her simply because you were both beautiful. I’m not shallow. I do have morals.”
    She stared at him as he held her wrist in his fingers.
    Immediately, he let her go. “I’m sorry I put my hands on you.”
    She didn’t move.
    Funny.
    She wished he were touching her again. When he did, Mattie felt safe.
    It was time to be honest.
    “I wanted to be part of you back then too,” she admitted. “The second I saw you with those blue eyes and sweet smile, I fell in love.”
    His heart skipped at her admission.
    It hadn’t been one sided.
    She had felt it too.
    “I feel hate that she lied to me. Until this moment, I hated myself. I hated that I didn’t keep her safe. Now I find myself loathing what she did. She stole you from me. I could have been happy. I would have been happy, Matilda.”
    “I hate that name.”
    He touched her cheek. “I don’t. I think it’s sweet. I think it’s strong. You gave up your chance at happiness for your sister, Mattie. You don’t often see that compassion. That’s something I respect above everything else.”
    She shrugged. “Look what it got me.”
    He stopped her.
    “That’s my number one trait in a woman. It always has been. My mother taught me always to be compassionate. To always give and be kind. That’s how I live my life.”
    She listened to him.
    “That’s how I met the Littlemoons, and how I found you again.”
    “The past is the past.”
    “The future is up to us, Mattie. I would like a chance. I need you to believe that I would have come looking for you had I known what Devora did. We both got screwed on that one. We were both the victims.”
    “Would it have really mattered?” she asked. “We looked the same. We sounded the same. You still got one of us.”
    He wanted to get angry.
    He wanted to yell.
    Of course, it mattered.
    He hated when someone screwed with his free will. He loathed when someone tried to manipulate the facts. That’s why he’d become a reporter.
    That’s why he’d unburied the truth for a living and thought he was really good at it.
    “I didn’t get the one that I wanted. It matters more than you’ll ever know!”
    She heard the tone in his voice.
    “I didn’t mean to make you angry.”
    “I am angry, but not at you. I’m just sorry we lost that chance. It would have been amazing.”
    She didn’t doubt it.
    Matilda wanted that moment back. She wanted to have that shot at happiness. She wanted everything he said they could have had, and it was going to be up to her this time. Her sister wasn’t there to stop her.
    Moving toward him, Mattie’s mouth found his. They crashed together, his arms wrapping around her body. Heat exploded from them, pouring into the other person.
    Someone moaned.
    Hands wandered, until hers found his hair. When their glasses bumped, he pulled them off without breaking the mating of mouths.
    It had never been like this.
    Even in his horny teen years, being dominated by hormones and lust, it had never been close to this unquenchable need.
    Matilda was flame and heat, and that berg of ice in his heart and soul was beginning to melt away. As her tongue slid across his, exploring the depths of his mouth, his did the same.
    She tasted like old whiskey.
    He’d never forget that flavor again. As he slid down into the couch, her pressed to his body, he was amazed at his good