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)
“Why are you apologizing?” she asked. “I’m the idiot who thought this was a date and made everything awkward. I’m so sorry.” She walked away toward where Owen and Judd stood, watching them.
Stupid. Dirty.
Deep breaths, Chloe.
“Whoa. Nope. Okay, we need to talk for a moment.” Beck moved in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
He frowned. “I know I’m a big guy, but I won’t harm you.” There was a strange look in his eyes. One she couldn’t understand.
Her eyes widened. “I know that. I’m not scared of you. I just . . . sometimes if I’m on edge I get easily startled.” It wasn’t a lie.
“Are you starting to trust us?”
“Yes, I think so.”
He gave her a beautiful smile. Lord, he was handsome. “Good. Because we would never harm you. And if anyone ever tries to hurt you, then you’re to tell us.”
There was that Daddy voice. Delicious.
“Judd and I will head down,” Owen said, gesturing toward a path that seemed to lead down to the ocean. “Beck, can you bring baby girl? It might be better if you carry her so she doesn’t twist her sore ankle.”
“Sore ankle?” Judd turned to her. “From yesterday morning?”
“Um, yes.”
“You should have told me about that when it happened. Don’t keep things like that from me again.”
She stared at Judd in shock.
“Make sure you carry her,” he ordered Beck.
“I don’t need anyone to carry me,” she said. How mortifying.
“Beck will carry you,” Judd ordered. “No arguments.”
“Let’s go,” Owen said.
They both disappeared down the path.
“You really don’t have to carry me,” she told Beck.
“You don’t want me touching you?” There was a note in his voice. Oh no . . . she hadn’t hurt him, had she? “I’ll call Owen back.”
“No, it’s not that,” she said hastily. “I do want you to touch me. I just . . . Lord, this is hard to say. I’m not used to being touched all the time.”
He froze. “What do you mean?”
She blew out a breath. She couldn’t look at him, so she stared out at the ocean. “It’s been a long time since anyone touched me with care or thought.” Rather than indifference or to make her feel smaller than them. “I don’t remember the last time I was hugged before I came here. Probably my ex-boyfriend in high school, but he was a jerk so he doesn’t count.”
Beck made a strange noise. Almost as though he was in pain. She glanced up to find him staring down at her with . . . with anguish in his face.
It took her by surprise and she just gaped at him. She wasn’t expecting that reaction.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, reaching forward to touch his arm. “I’m all right.”
Beck shook his head. “It’s not okay. You’re not all right. And you shouldn’t have to pretend that you are. How often do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Put other people’s emotions and feelings before your own. Freckles, I’m so sorry. No one should go without some sort of caring touch.”
“Yeah, it starts to mess with your head after a while.”
“So, you haven’t dated anyone in a long time?”
“Not since that secret boyfriend in high school. The jerk whose touches don’t count.”
“Secret boyfriend?” he asked.
“Ah, yeah. Secret in that he didn’t want anyone to find out that he was fucking me. The social pariah of our school. I thought he wanted to keep us a secret because he wanted me to himself. That’s what he told me. But no . . . I caught him kissing one of the cheerleaders one day. I confronted him . . . right there in front of half the team and the cheer squad. He laughed in my face. Told me there was no way he’d ever touch an STD-ridden little whore like me.”
“That motherfucker.”
“The ironic thing is that the only STD I’ve ever had in my life, I got from that asshole.”
“I’m going to want a name.”
“What?” She stared at him in shock.
“His name. What is it?”
“I . . . why?”
“So I can make that bastard suffer.”
“That . . . no, it was a long time ago. It’s not necessary.”
“Oh, Freckles, I promise you. It’s more than necessary. And you’re going to want to give me that name because I’ll allow him to keep breathing. If you leave this to Owen . . . the fucker will never be found because they won’t be able to put the pieces of him back together.”
She swallowed heavily. “I thought you were the sanest one.”
He grinned. Then, reaching up slowly, he cupped the side of her face and ran his thumb over her lower lip. “That’s the thing. I am. Any of the others will happily send that guy to hell. Where he belongs.”
“Hux?”
“Uh-huh. Hux hates bullies. With a vengeance. He’d bury that bastard alive.”
She sucked in a breath. She’d never had anyone defend her before. She wanted these men for her own. What would it be like to always be able to rely on them? To have them always there to defend her?