Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 45217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
“Earlier today, a kid approached me,” I tell her. “He had a cryptic message. I’m supposed to meet somebody tomorrow. I don’t know who they are, but I’m guessing they’re a criminal from the context. I came here to ensure they wouldn’t target you as well.”
Is this a lie or a half-truth? It’s not the specific reason I’m here, but I can’t imagine anybody hurting my woman.
“Who wants to meet you?” she asks.
I’ve already told her too much, but thankfully, I don’t have to lie here. “I don’t know.”
But I’m not telling the whole truth.
“Why would they target me?”
Her voice shudders. She drops her hand and interlaces her fingers. When she does this—I am a goddamn savage—she inadvertently pushes her full breasts together. She’s wearing a T-shirt without a bra, her nipples poking temptingly through the fabric. The shape of her tits almost makes me reach over and start playing with them.
“I don’t know what to do,” she says, sighing. “If they come back tonight…”
“I could stay.”
This is so wrong, but I keep going.
“I’d take the couch or sleep on the porch or in the garden. I wouldn’t forgive myself if something happened to you.”
She blinks. “Why?”
“Because…”
You belong to me. I need you. You’re going to give me a family one day when I get my act together and start making money.
“I’ve hurt you enough.”
Even if she doesn’t know the whole story, this is true. My actions have caused her pain.
“Most people would call me completely crazy for even thinking about saying yes to this,” she murmurs, “but I saw the person in the yard, their silhouette anyway. It wasn’t you.”
“No.”
“You’re not staging this as some weird scheme to get closer to me.”
“No,” I say darkly. “I’d never do anything like that to you, Lucy. You’re an innocent young woman.”
“I’m not that young,” she says, turning away, averting her gaze.
“Huh?”
“I’m just saying twenty isn’t young. Not when you’ve lived the sort of life I have, anyway. I don’t feel young.”
She glances at me with something like desperation in her eyes. She needs me to understand that she doesn’t view herself as young, almost like she wants to ensure our age gap isn’t a problem.
“When you’re forty-two, twenty seems pretty young,” I tell her.
She shakes her head with that cute-as-hell pout on her lips. “Well, I don’t think it’s that young. That’s all I’m saying. Are you sure you don’t mind staying? I’ve got school in the morning. I’ll be safe there, but I won’t lie. I’m pretty freaked tonight.”
“If you don’t mind me being here,” I tell her.
When she bites her lip, I almost do it. Step forward, wrap my arms around her, and kiss her passionately. Kiss her with so much desire that she never has to wonder if she’ll be alone ever again.
“It’s not exactly regular, is it?” she says softly. “But honestly, I’d feel safer with you here tonight. Tell me who this mystery person is when you meet them tomorrow.”
I swallow. I’m not sure that’s going to be possible.
“What?” she says, looking at me perceptively.
“I can’t promise that.”
“Why?”
“I can’t explain. It would involve breaking promises that involve my sister and my nephew. If I can tell you, I will.”
She tilts her head, looking like she might argue, then her shoulders slump. My savage mind guides my gaze to her breasts again, over her belly, to her hips. When her shoulders slump, her whole body shakes seductively for only me.
“I’ll get you some blankets,” she says, walking away.
How will I survive a night in the same house as her without caving to temptation?
I lie on the couch, staring at the ceiling, thinking about how completely insane this is. I’m sleeping—or trying to—in the living room of the daughter of the man… I can’t even finish the thought. It’s too deranged.
Yet there’s something that’s niggling at me even more. It’s the fact I’m down here instead of in bed with my woman. I should be with her right now, my arms wrapped around her curvy body, feeling her lust, her desire for safety and steaminess, her everything.
I sit up, rubbing my hand over my face. I can see the clock from the moon shining and streetlight filtering through the curtains. It’s two a.m., and sleep feels a long, long way off. The downstairs toilet is busted, so I head upstairs, but that’s just an excuse.
Honestly, I don’t even need to use the toilet. It’s more like this hunger inside me, directing my movements, guiding me just outside her bedroom door. I pause there, breathing slowly, placing my ear against the door, and then almost fall over when she pulls the door open. I stumble into her bedroom. Guilt cuts into me when she reflexively yells, shock capturing her young curvy body. When I catch my balance, I see her staring at me. Her hair’s even more messy-sexy than it was earlier.