Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 66503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
My cheeks begin to flush again, but I push the raunchy thoughts away and focus on the task at hand. His wound looks gnarly and in need of a cleaning.
“Can you bend sideways? Just a little bit,” I ask.
He does what I ask without complaining, but when I place a cotton pad with alcohol on his side, he hisses.
“Sorry, I know it stings,” I say. “But it seems like it’s only a graze. I don’t see a bullet.”
“I’ve felt worse,” he says, laughing, then wincing.
And I can’t help but wonder if he means that newly installed device.
Not that it matters. We’re out of Lex’s claws now.
There’s no way he can hurt Beast or me from this distance. I’m sure that device won’t work from this far away.
Which means … he should definitely get even farther away.
I sigh as I finish up and put some tape over the gauze, sealing the wound. “All done.”
“Thanks,” he says as I put the supplies away.
He gets off the seat and walks to the window to check the neighborhood. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s followed us here.”
“I hope not,” I respond, clearing my throat.
He’s still staring out the window, hands splayed on the glass like he’s looking out into a world he’s yet to discover. And it makes me feel like I’m holding him back.
“You’re free to go wherever you want now,” I say.
“What?” He turns to me as his eyes darken. “What do you mean?”
I don’t know what to say. “I just … don’t want you to think you have to stay here.”
“Why wouldn’t I stay?” he asks, approaching me.
“Well, you’re free now. You can go anywhere you like.”
He walks closer, invading my space in a way that feels intimate. Exciting.
“I don’t want to leave.”
He pauses. The air is thick with tension.
Why wouldn’t he want to leave?
He has the world at his feet.
All the freedom he could ever want.
“I don’t want to leave you.”
That one added word.
God.
I don’t even know what to say.
“You’ve done more for me than anyone ever has,” he says, taking my breath away.
But I’m just little me. I didn’t do anything except try to save my papa, but it almost cost him his life.
“I almost got you killed. Twice,” I mutter, tears welling up in my eyes at the thought.
He grabs my face, clutching me tight. “I’m alive, thanks to you.”
I shake my head. That doesn’t make any sense. I’m the reason he wasn’t freed to begin with. The reason he chose to defy his owner.
But his fingers squeeze my cheeks, refusing to let me look anywhere other than into his mesmerizing green eyes.
“When I was brought back to that cell, I wanted to die. Until you gave me back the will to live.”
I gasp as he leans in and presses a gentle but seductive kiss on my lips that pushes all my buttons and makes my heart flutter.
When his lips briefly pull away from mine, he whispers, “Thank you.”
I shake my head even though our lips are still touching. “Don’t thank me.”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do,” he rebukes, pulling away slowly.
He fishes into his pocket and takes out the flower I once gave him, still beautiful, even though it’s dried up. “This … this is what kept me going all these years.”
I suck in a breath, the sight of that flower still making me feel like I’m spinning.
It’s still so hard to believe I’m looking at the same boy I once found hiding in the tub. “You’re really him…” I mutter. Now he’s all grown up and … handsome.
Not at all the way I saw him when he first marched into my home like a lumbering, menacing giant determined to kill everything in sight.
“Is that why you couldn’t kill me when you came for my father?” I ask.
I hadn’t dared to ask the question before, but now that we’re here, in a safe space, I have to know the truth.
He nods and grabs my face. “When I looked into your eyes, I recognized you.”
I gulp, my heart skipping a beat.
“I knew it was you when I saw that same look. That look you gave me …” he murmurs, softly caressing my cheek. “But I also knew my owne—Lex”—he pauses, like it costs him a great deal to say Lex’s name—“was watching through the camera in my collar. I couldn’t risk him finding out.”
No wonder he didn’t want me to touch him at the hotel, despite him being interested in me soon after I was forced into his cell.
I grab his hand holding the flower and look at it. “I can’t believe you kept it … all those years,” I mutter. “How?”
His eyes lower as he dives into his memories. “I kept it safe in my pocket, even when the snatchers stole me. I hid it in the walls or underneath the floorboards, any place I could find.” He holds it up in front of his face like it’s the most precious jewel he’s ever seen. “And when life got too rough, I’d take it out and just stare. For a moment. That’s it.”