Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
I’d be able to pick it in seconds, throw her over my shoulder, and get the hell out of Dodge. But I sensed that I needed to tread carefully so I didn’t scare her away or drive a wedge between us before I even had the chance to draw her in.
“Damn.” I swiveled my head to see Grey lounging on one of the other sofas, staring at the door my girl had just disappeared through. “She’s got some fire.”
“Mine,” I snapped.
Grey raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t look surprised. “I figured.”
Just then, the knob on the front door jiggled, and Grey and I were over there, guns drawn, in seconds. When it swung open, there was a girl with skis and a bright smile that died the moment she spotted the weapons in our hands.
“Who are you?” she screeched, dropping her equipment and rushing inside. “Where’s Karina? What have you done? I’m calling the police!”
Before I could form a thought and answer her, Grey stalked over and wrapped his hands around her waist before practically tossing the girl over his shoulder. “I’ll take care of this,” he growled as he turned to leave the cabin.
The girl was kicking out and yelling at him to put her down, but he ignored her and slammed the front door behind him.
I was tempted to do the same with Karina, and I even marched over to the bedroom she’d locked herself in. But when I heard her crying, something squeezed my heart, and I decided to give her the night to come around. If she still refused to leave the following morning, I’d go the kidnapping route.
Rather than finding another bedroom to crash in, I stretched out onto one of the long, overstuffed couches. I wanted Karina’s room in my sight. Partly so I could protect her but also because I wanted to make sure she didn’t sneak out. Although, even if she did, I would track her ass down. She belonged to me.
3
Karina
It was good that I’d slept so well the two nights we’d been in Aspen because I barely got a wink after those guys from the Silver Saints showed up. Locked in my bedroom, I couldn’t stop thinking about how my whole world had shifted on its axis. At first, I stewed over my reaction to the sexy biker my dad had sent to protect me. Then I brooded about all the awful secrets he’d finally exposed to my mom and me.
Finally, in the middle of the night, I realized that I hadn’t thought about the fact that Lorelei had never returned from skiing. I felt like the world’s worst best friend, even after I found a text from her number letting me know that she was okay but had a million questions about what the heck was going on and why a sexy biker of her own had practically kidnaped her.
Rolling over with a soft sigh, I wrapped my arms around a pillow as I stared at the door I’d slammed shut and locked after running from Cash.
Almost as though he could see through the wood surface or somehow managed to hear me, Cash called, “C’mon, sunshine. Don’t make me break the door down to get to you.”
Climbing off the mattress, I padded across the room to sit down on the floor, leaning my back against the door. “Only if you promise you won’t take me back right away. I want to wake up on Christmas morning here, even if it’s without my parents.”
“I’m not in the habit of making promises I can’t keep, and I already told my prez that I’d bring you back to the compound so we can keep you safe.”
I appreciated that he was being honest with me…and that keeping his word seemed important to him. After learning that my dad wasn’t the man that I’d always thought him to be, I had a feeling that trust would never come easily to me again. “It’s Christmas Eve. I bet he’s got all sorts of plans. He probably wouldn’t even notice if we waited a few days before leaving.”
“That’s not the way the Silver Saints roll, sunshine. Mac is not gonna forget that I’m supposed to come back with you just because it’s Christmas tomorrow.”
There was a trace of regret as he shot down my suggestion, and it gave me hope that I could figure out a way to get Cash to agree to stay. I just needed to be smart about it and come up with a solution that worked for him. “What if your president said it was okay for us to stay longer?”
“Only way that’ll happen is if he knows Bickle isn’t gonna come here to try to get his hands on you.”
My back straightened, and I twisted to stare at the door we were talking through. “Is there any way to track him?”