Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 166103 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 831(@200wpm)___ 664(@250wpm)___ 554(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 166103 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 831(@200wpm)___ 664(@250wpm)___ 554(@300wpm)
Did she like being called a good girl?
He thought she might.
Hmm . . . interesting. He hadn’t picked her as a sub and that didn’t mean that she was. Maybe she just liked being praised.
“Did you like being called a good girl, Chloe? Do you like being praised?” It was dangerous territory. He didn’t know her. She was a guest here. He’d be in hot water if she complained to Kassim. Yet, he couldn’t stop his mouth from running away on him.
Chloe swayed on her feet toward him. Was she hypnotized by his words? Was she about to step up against him? To lean into him?
Heck. Was he turning her on with just his words? His tone?
He let go of her arm and reached out to grab her as she swayed again.
Wait . . . she wasn’t fucking being hypnotized by his voice! She was about to pass out!
“Chloe! Chloe?” He put his arm behind her back and eased her to the ground.
“I’m okay,” she said faintly.
“No, you’re not. Are you feeling dizzy? Nauseous? Does anything hurt?”
“Yes,” she replied as he helped her lie back on the ground, then raised her feet into the air.
“Yes? Yes to what?” he asked. Why the fuck hadn’t he brought any water with him? She’d probably overheated. Had she even eaten this morning? Fuck.
Idiot. Here he’d been admiring her ass and cursing her out for making him run so long and fast . . . and she’d pushed herself to the point of feeling faint. He should have seen that. Should have stopped her before it got this far.
“Where does it hurt?” he asked. What if there was something else wrong with her?
“Everywhere. Feels so good, though. Like the pain. Makes me feel alive.”
Okay. There was a whole lot to unpack in that statement. And he didn’t have time right now to really think all of that through.
He shot off an SOS text to the rest of his team, knowing they could track him through his phone to find their exact location.
“Okay, darlin’, let’s forget about that. Is there anything that feels sore? Like a sharp pain?”
“No.”
“You still feeling dizzy?” He’d noticed that she was speaking more clearly. Grabbing her wrist, he took her pulse. Fast and faint.
“What . . . why am I on the ground?” She squinted up at him. He did his best to shade her face.
“You nearly fainted.”
“I . . . no. I was just feeling a bit dizzy. That’s all. Probably because of the way you were ordering me around.” She frowned up at him.
“Darlin’, you were about to fall over the edge of that cliff. If I hadn’t ordered you back, you could have seriously hurt yourself. Think about what would have happened if you got dizzy while you were standing at the edge?”
Anger filled him at the thought. What was she thinking, running until she was at the point of collapse? Putting her health and safety in danger.
Not acceptable.
Someone needed to be watching over this girl more closely.
What she needed was a guardian or a protector.
Maybe a Daddy.
Yeah, get that out of your head right now. She’s not a Little. Or a sub.
What he did know was that she was off-limits. Unattainable.
“I was fine.”
“Because I was here and I made you come back from the edge.”
“I would have been okay. You’re exaggerating the danger.”
“You have no sense of self-preservation, do you?” he asked her incredulously. “You’ve run yourself to the point of collapse. You had no idea if that ground was firm or not yet you stood right at the edge of the cliff. You need someone to watch over you, girl.”
She made a snorting noise before trying to sit.
“What are you doing? Lie back down.”
“I want to sit up.” She glared up at him in frustration as he held her gently down.
“Tough.”
“Excuse me?” she snapped.
He had to admit, he rather liked seeing her like this. Yesterday, she’d seemed almost detached. Polite but distant. As though she let very little affect her. Or interest her.
No one could say that about her now. There was fire in her eyes. Sure, she might be angry at him, but at least she was showing some emotion.
He was aware of someone pulling up on an ATV, but he didn’t look over. He knew it would be one of his brothers. Most people used golf carts to move around the palace grounds, but they were at the very edge of the property and the golf cart wouldn’t have handled the terrain.
It didn’t matter which of his brothers it was, all of his attention remained on the girl trying to incinerate him with her gaze.
Damn . . . if looks could kill. He’d be gone.
Which would be a shame for the rest of the world to be deprived of his company.
Yep, that would just be sad.