Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“You’re right, it doesn’t, but you’ve been such a massive prick since I met you and it feels good to knock you down a peg.”
I decide my only chance is offense. Before she’s set, I go after her. There are no rules down here. We’re in a goddamn basement. She curses and tries to fend me off but I’m bigger and my reach is better, and I manage to score a lucky hit on her side.
“Did you ever stop to think that this is hard for me too?” I snarl at her. I’m sweating now as she bounces in place.
“That’s not a great excuse.”
“You were a surprise. I didn’t know it was going to be you when you showed up that day.”
“So that’s why you treated me like dirt?”
“I wanted you,” I choke out at her.
She hesitates. I take my chance and lunge. But she dances back out of reach, parrying me, then counter-attacking. I stumble out of her range.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snaps. “You wanted me? This is some schoolboy shit, isn’t it? You treat the girl you have a crush on like dirt.”
“I was protecting myself. I never thought we’d end up like this. I wanted distance. I wanted safety.”
“You wanted to save your own ass at the expense of mine. Yeah, I get it.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Isn’t it though?” She comes at me. Lunge, stab, stab, attack. I block, parry, move away, then counter. She’s too quick though and she was waiting for that. My sword slides off hers as she flicks it sideways, a neat little turn of her wrist, and she shoots forward.
I grunt in surprise as she barrels into me. Like I said, no fucking rules. Her foil ends up pinned between us as she reaches up and knocks my mask back, then rips her own off. I stagger toward the wall, grab her by the hips and turn her, my sword hitting the floor. She’s breathing hard and glaring death at me as I hold her against the wall. Her lips are parted and, fuck, I want to bury them with mine and punish her with my tongue.
“I win,” she whispers.
“Going to scream in my face?”
“I don’t need to. You’re going to listen.”
My jaw flexes. But I say nothing.
She takes a deep breath, and then she explains.
About her trip to the fencing gym, about signing up for classes even though she was nervous and scared, and about my father giving her a ride home. She explains his offer and why she has the card.
“I was never going to do it,” she says, eyes on mine. She’s softening now and my grip on her isn’t as firm. “I honestly forgot it happened until you threw that card at me. Lev, you’re my husband. You’re the father of my child. Even if this is all freaking weird, I’m yours.”
Those words. I’m yours. I don’t think she means it, but they break me.
Fuck, they shatter me.
I slump forward and pull her against me. The sword is still between us, but she lets it go and it falls to the floor. I pull her into a hug and she hugs me back, her soft, warm body like heaven.
“Why do you hate him so much?” she whispers, her cheek against my chest. “What happened between you?”
I let out a long breath and feel myself relax a fraction of an inch. “You’re not going to like it.”
“I didn’t think I would.”
“No, you don’t understand. It’ll upset you, and I’ve done enough of that already.”
“Lev—”
“Tomorrow night. I’ll tell you tomorrow night when I have the mask on again.”
“You don’t need it.”
“I know. But it helps.”
She looks up at me. Her big, dark eyes stare into mine. Her full lips are parted.
“Can I sleep in your bed tonight?”
I bury her mouth with mine. I can’t help myself. I kiss her and hold it there, letting it linger, letting it glow. Fuck, it tastes good, and it feels even better. Her tongue silky and sweet, and the little whimper she makes drives me wild.
But I break it off before I let myself go too far.
“Come on then,” I whisper, pulling away but taking her hand with me. “It’s late and you’re pregnant. You need rest.”
“Yeah, rest,” she says, sounding a bit dazed. “That’s what I need right now.”
Chapter 28
Lev
My father’s house looks different.
Smaller. Older. Like somehow, he’s letting it go, even though it’s still the old stately row home in a great neighborhood it’s always been.
I grew up here. I learned everything I know about business here. I became the man I am today, for better and for worse, right in these halls.
It feels wrong when I walk through the door.
My father’s always home on Sunday mornings. He likes to get up early, go to church, get a bagel at the deli down the block, and spend time in his office. Sometimes he’s working; other times he’s reading.