Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I decided to take it easy on you tonight,” he says as he stops outside of room twelve. He glances down, a playful grin on his face. “Since I was so rough with all those machines last time.”
“Uh,” I say, turning pink. “I’m not sure I can take another beating like that.”
He laughs and we go inside.
The room is pitch black. His hand finds my arm and I move closer to him, clinging on tight. Noise machines drone from the darkness, and I don’t have time for my eyes to adjust before he leads me forward in a slow, awkward shuffle.
“There’s a bed in about five steps,” he says and counts them down. “Here we go.”
My thighs hit the mattress. It’s covered in silk sheets. Gently, he pulls me up with him, and I’m shaking as he wraps his arms around my body and hugs me close.
He’s warm and smells like heaven. If I weren’t so incredibly amped up by what went down a few minutes ago, I’d be able to fall asleep like this.
“You seem upset,” he whispers, his mouth very close to my ear. “Don’t worry. If you’re quiet, the microphones won’t be able to pick this up. We’re safe.”
I touch his face. It’s like a dream. The sheets wrap me in their softness and Angelo’s body drenches me in warmth. “How did you know I needed you?” I whisper back.
“I didn’t. I just heard you were working and wanted to see you.” A quizzical note in his voice. “What happened?”
I tell him everything, from start to finish. When the story’s over I feel like I purged some of the anxiety and I’m able to calm down a little bit, but I still have Serena’s nod playing through my head.
“Fuck, baby,” he says, his fingers tightening on my hip. “I shouldn’t have asked that of you. That was—” He lets out a frustrated growl. “It was too dangerous.”
“I’m fine. I mean, I don’t think Serena’s going to turn me in.”
“No, I don’t think she will, either. But still, I was being selfish.”
“That doesn’t matter. I found proof that Tommy’s been messaging with that Roc guy and I even got some of his conversation. There were other names, foreign names. Maybe even Serbians. I’m pretty sure Tommy’s having a meeting with other foreign guys right now.”
“Describe them.”
I do my best to remember all the details and I whisper it all into his ear. “Does that help?”
“I don’t know.” I can feel his jaw flex, we’re so close. “Getting you involved in all this was a mistake.”
“It’s our deal, right? I help get information, you help free my sister. That’s the whole thing. I’ll send you the pictures I took.”
He’s quiet for a minute. I can feel his heart thumping in his chest and feel the slow, steady motion of his lungs like the ocean lapping at sand. I stroke his stubble, wondering how I’m here, wrapped in his arms, like it’s totally normal.
“You’re right, it’s our deal.” His lips brush my neck. My eyes adjusted to the near dark and he’s an outline in the gloom. All gray and black and brooding and beautiful. “But I’m starting to wonder if that’s a mistake. If I found something better with you. If I should be protecting that.”
“I don’t need protection.” I shiver at the thought of him keeping an eye on me. “I need help.”
“I’m going to help you, no matter what.”
“Then, what? You don’t need me anymore?”
“No, baby.” He sounds frustrated, almost angry, like he’s wrestling with something. “I still need you.”
But I don’t think he means our deal anymore.
I think he means something else.
He pulls back and he looks into my eyes. I look back, and I suddenly feel like Serena from earlier. I have a choice to make, and either direction takes me somewhere new, and whichever I choose will reverberate for the rest of my life.
I can kiss him here and now. I can press my lips to his and drink him in. Or I can insist that we stick to the original deal and push aside this thing growing between us.
“It’s just been me and Serena for so long,” I admit, torn in a dozen different directions. “When we were growing up, I did my best to protect her. And I think she was protecting me too.” My voice chokes and I have to stop. He brushes a thumb across my cheek. “Then she fell in with Tommy, and I’ve been trying to bring her back. I don’t know how to do anything else.”
“You don’t have to do anything, baby,” he says as his thumb moves down my lips, down my neck, down my breasts. My heart stutters, forgets how to pump, and only remembers a couple seconds later, hammering twice as fast. “I’ll show you.”