Free Beyond Wild Imaginings by Brieanna Robertson Page A

arms stayed around her.
    “Kelly, it’s okay to cry,” he said, his voice so gentle that she nearly collapsed into sobs again. Her bottom lip trembled, and she bit it to keep it still.
    “I cry all the time,” she muttered. “It never does any good.” She shook her head and forced the tears away. “It doesn’t bring my ex-boyfriend back and miraculously turn him into a decent guy. It doesn’t bring back my house in Jersey that I loved, and it doesn’t make me any less depressed.”
    He caressed his fingers down her cheek, and she drew in a shuddering breath. “I don’t know what to do.”
    She raised her face, and her heart twisted at the pained, confused look on his face.
    He shook his head. “Before, when you were small, I always knew what to do. You were easy to comfort. All I had to do was hold you, reassure you.” His lips twitched into a small smile. “And you adored my wings. Now they frighten you.”
    She shook her head vigorously. “No, Garren, your wings are amazing.” Instinctively, she reached out and touched one of them, letting her fingers trail over the glistening, soft feathers. “They unnerved me before because I was confused and alarmed at realizing that my imaginary friend was real and breathing…and sitting in my friend’s living room.” He gave a soft chuckle, and she smiled. “I know it must be confusing for you, coming into this world after knowing only the Creative Realm for so long. It’s different, and I’m different, and it must be very frustrating.”
    He sighed. “Not frustrating, just…” He looked up and met her eyes, gazing into them for a long moment. “I knew you had grown, but my memory of you was still as a child. I was surprised as well when I first saw you again. I did not expect the adorable, wild little girl I remembered to have grown into such a beautiful woman.”
    She felt her cheeks turn pink and she looked down, but Garren lifted her chin with his finger and smiled at her. His eyes radiated such warm light, and she felt some of the tension and pain leave her.
    “Don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “Being beautiful and desirable is not something to be ashamed of.”
    She smiled as she felt her cheeks burn even more. She shook her head. “Dang it, Garren.” She laughed and put her face in her hands. “Quit.”
    He chuckled. “Why do you hide your beauty from me?”
    There was a teasing note in his voice and she laughed harder. “Gimme a break. I have no makeup on. My hair is a disaster. You have obviously been in the Creative Realm too long.” She shook her head and stole a sidelong glance at him. He was watching her with that enigmatic smile on his lips again, and it made her heart flutter in an odd way. What was it with that? Why did her heart do acrobatics around him? He wasn’t even real.
    He’s very real. He’s sitting right there.
    She scowled at the voice in her head that decided to offer its two cents, and promptly argued with it. I meant he isn’t human.
    Would it make a difference if he was?
    She raked her eyes over Garren’s beautiful face and took in his broad shoulders and lean but masculine body. He was sexy. Horribly so. Sexy in a seductive, alluring, dark shadow fantasy kind of way. He was not her type at all. Type? What am I talking about? Human is my type.
    What if he was human?
    She swallowed as she contemplated the question her conscience, or whatever it was, kept asking her. He was completely different from any man she had ever liked. She didn’t like dark men. She liked typical men. Blond, athletic…
    Look where that’s gotten you. Don’t be an idiot, Kelly. Your subconscious changed the way he looked to fit your preferences. You write men like Garren in your books all the time to fulfill other people’s fantasies. You wouldn’t be able to write them so well if you didn’t have those fantasies also.
    Okay, point taken. She did like to write dark, mysterious heroes. They were just more interesting. They had more