Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
What had possessed me to put myself out there with a man like Thatcher? When you looked at it that way, I deserved this.
“Capri?” Sebastian called, but I didn’t want to talk to him.
I kept walking.
“Capri!” he called out louder.
I was almost out the side door when a hand touched my shoulder, and I jerked away without looking to see who it was.
“Capri?” Sebastian said again.
He wasn’t going to let me leave without some answer. I looked at him and wished I could just lie. But even attempting a lie at the moment seemed impossible.
“What happened?” he asked, narrowing his eyes as he studied me.
His eyes were scanning me for what? A sign of struggle?
I clasped my hands behind my back to hide my wrist from his prying eyes. I hadn’t checked, but there was a possibility T left a mark.
“Nothing. Misunderstanding with Thatcher. My fault,” I said.
“Your fault? I don’t believe that. It’s Thatcher.”
I couldn’t even force a smile. I shrugged. “It’s fine. But I do need to get going.” I didn’t wait for him to say more or ask anything else.
Pushing open the door, I walked into the bright sunlight. One day, I wouldn’t care about this. Perhaps I’d even laugh at my stupidity.
At least I had accomplished something among my mortification. There would be no more cookies left at my door.
• Twenty-Four •
One look from those doe eyes of hers, and I was suddenly her fucking protector.
Thatcher
For seven years, I’d known this entrance into the house, yet until this year, I’d never had any desire to use it. Watching her from the backyard was good enough. It had given me the peace I required. It seemed drawing her into my world and not just observing her life without interaction was creating new necessities.
Watching her sleep, the unique scent of honeysuckle and lemon saturating every breath I took, listening to her soft sounds that weren’t a snore but entertaining, was enough to appease me. I often sat for hours before I realized I was smiling. When she mumbled words that made no sense, I had to press my lips together not to laugh.
Leaning against the frame of her bedroom door, I held the panties she’d worn today against my nose while she slept peacefully. I’d been here for an hour, and she’d yet to move or make any of her amusing sounds. That was easier to watch than seeing her restless. The expression on her face when she’d left the stables today twisted me up in ways I couldn’t get control over.
Once the sun had set, I’d come straight here to stand outside and watch her. It was the only way to ease me. Knowing she was safe.
The corner of my lips curled up as I thought about the cookies outside her front door. Would she come back to the stables with those gray eyes of hers heated until they looked like liquid silver, that sweet mouth telling me off and demanding truths that she couldn’t handle?
My hand fisted the satin scrap of fabric that I knew barely covered her ass since I’d watched her walk around the house in them before she took a shower. Every time I thought about the way her eyes had flared and gotten fucking excited when I told her things that should have sent her running, my blood would pulse, I could hear my heartbeat, and my cock only got harder. That perfect, sweet face shouldn’t have stared up at me with her lips parted, panting, and her eyes pleading for shit she was too good for.
Capri Jewel was kind, forgiving, gentle with others’ feelings, selfless, and innocent. Somehow, even before I’d known her, my soul had read hers clearly. The twisted fuck that it was couldn’t see her hurt. That was the only reason I’d reacted the way I did the first time. One look from those doe eyes of hers, and I was suddenly her fucking protector.
She hadn’t asked for that or me. Unfortunately for her, she had no choice. Hell, I had no choice. Maybe if I’d stayed away nine years ago and not come looking for her, if that face had stayed out of my dreams, I could have. The woman that she’d turned into had shaken me more than I realized. I hadn’t lied to her today when I said virgins bored me. All I ever wanted was women who matched my depravity.
I couldn’t ruin her.
Dropping her panties back into her white wicker laundry basket, I silently moved over to stand beside her bed. She’d put lighter streaks of blonde in her hair. I wanted to wrap a strand around my finger and feel the silk against my skin.
My gaze drifted over her face, pausing at her slightly parted lips. She’d fucking licked them today when I mentioned shoving my cock down her throat until she gagged. I was still hard. I had been since she’d left. My sweet little doll shouldn’t want that, but knowing she had liked the thought was going to taunt me. Reminding me of what I couldn’t have.