The Perfect Cover (The Perfect Stranger #2) - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,4

have money but I need….” I stop short of saying that I needed him. "We made all these plans and we were going to start this new life.”

“We were never going to start a life together. I can’t let that happen, Isabelle. You mean the world to me. I fucking love you. That means that I can’t have anything happening to you. The federal marshals are after me. My face is plastered on every television screen in the nation. You would have to live under a rock to not know what I look like or how much money my reward is. You really think that I’m going to get away with this?”

“How many times are you going to question that? I mean, what are we even doing if you don’t believe that you’re going to get away? Why did you even try to escape? What’s the fucking point?”

Anger starts to rise up within me again.

“Listen, I’ll try to explain why I left that letter, but there’s something else that you need to know.”

I cross my arms and turn away from him. I told him that I want to hear the truth and that I would hear him out, but now I am too angry, upset, and pissed off.

“I can’t believe you were just going to leave me there. I mean, how am I going to trust you again?”

Tyler shakes his head and says, “Maybe you shouldn’t.”

He takes a step closer to me and puts his arms around mine. “You have to hear me out though.”

I shake my head.

He bends his head down and presses his lips to my neck.

They are cool to the touch. Soft and silky.

When I feel his tongue on my skin, shivers run up my spine. I don’t want to hear anything that he has to say and yet I can’t not listen.

“I shouldn’t have left. It is one of the million mistakes that I have made in my life so far. I’m sure that I’m going to make more. People act like they can live this life with no regrets, but that’s just a farce. It’s fucking make-believe.

“It’s impossible to live that way. Every day that you make a decision, any number of things can happen. I wrote that letter to protect you. I needed you to drive me out of the city, out of your development where the cops were checking every car. I needed your help, but after that? I was worried about you.

“You shouldn’t risk your life to protect me. I’m a scumbag. I didn’t kill Sarah or Greg, but that doesn’t make me a non-shitty person. It is my cross to bear and I’m trying to gain my own freedom but the only thing that would happen to you is that they would put you in prison for helping me. I don’t want to see that happen.”

I look up at Tyler and our eyes meet. I can’t look away. I know that every word of what he is saying is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

He bends down and puts his lips onto mine. I open my mouth and kiss him back.

Our arms look for each other’s and our fingers intertwine. He presses his body to mine and I push back at him. My hands make their way up his neck and bury themselves in his hair. He grabs me by my ponytail and tugs down.

With my head tilted back, he kisses my exposed neck. His mouth generates heat that overwhelms me. I wrap my leg around him, pulling him closer to me. His hands start to move up and down my body, feverishly, almost as if they are in search of something.

My clothes can't come off fast enough.

I raise my arms up as he pulls off my shirt and then I tug at his. When he tries to lean over and kiss the top of my breasts, I push him away for a moment and run my fingers up and down his hard, chiseled body.

“You're so hot,” I whisper.

“Not as hot as you are,” he says.

Suddenly, I get very self-conscious about my stomach and I suck it in a little bit, but he shakes his head, so I stop.

He runs his fingers up and down my side, then leans over and unclasps my bra. We make our way to the bed where he pushes me down and pulls off my leggings.

Leaning over me, he unbuckles his pants and lets them slide all the way down to the