All Chapters of Between Two Rourkes : Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

Lyra's POV{•FIVE YEARS EARLIER•}I should have known better than to fall in love with a contract.But Cassian Rourke had never been just ink on paper to me.Not when I was fifteen and he explained calculus to me during recess, not when I was twenty and he offered me money for my father's medical bills in exchange for a marriage of convenience, and certainly not on the day I signed my name next to his and told myself that maybe, eventually, proximity could turn this agreement into something real.But it's been five years now. And we lived more like roommates than two people who wore matching rings.My eyes drifted to my reflection staring back at me from the blurry mirror.Tonight, I planned to make Cassian see me as more than a contractual bride.He answered on the forth ring, his voice a little groggy."Lyra. Hey."There were audible keyboard clicks in the background."How would you feel about having dinner with me tonight? I made your favourite."He chuckled into the phone and I f

Lyra's POVThe eyes were similar to his, striking pale blue but warmer somehow. This man was taller, maybe six-four. And his skin was sun-kissed caramel where Cassian's had been light porcelain. His hair was darker, almost black instead of Cassian's platinum blonde hair. And his features, while similar in structure, were less softer."Hi," I managed to mutter. I shifted Eleanor higher on my hip and tried to remember how to breathe. "You must be..""The tenant, yeah." He grinned a lazy, easy grin."Sorry if I startled you. You looked like you had seen a ghost there for a second."I forced a laugh that sounded hollow even to my own ears. "No, I just... you reminded me of someone for a moment. My mistake."Eleanor chose that moment to grab a fistful of my hair and yank. Hard."Ow—Eleanor, baby, gentle."The man's grin widened, and he crouched down slightly to be at Eleanor's eye level. I then realized he had a split tongue, and black gemstone studs on his ears."I smell mischief in you.

Lyra's POVHis tongue was clearly forked, and pierced. And it kept swiping at the bottom of his lip. It was incredibly distracting for an eerie reason.What was so mysterious about the kind of music he listened to?"What are you all of a sudden?"I didn't know the answer to that myself."Um, whatever. As long as it's not satanic or I don't know... something that will possess my daughter and I if we accidentally hear it."He smiled."But music is meant to possess one's entire being. That's the whole point of the melody."He actually smiled.Not a grin. Not a... wolfish predatory smirk.But it was gone as soon as it came."Hard pass. I'll rather listen to my own kind of music, thank you."He shrugged."Suit yourself, I'll be settling in. My trip here was quite long."______We reached the west wing doorway.“Well,” he said, surveying the space. “Not bad. Bigger than my dorm back on my former campus.”“You are in college,” I said flatly. Reminding myself of the fact.“Graduate student,”