Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 132031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
The guy was as quiet as a church mouse. Dev felt like a caged lion.
The thin wood was such an inadequate barrier that kept them apart.
Was he really ready to see Cash again? No.
Yes, you are. Go be reasonable and figure this out.
If he could punch his brain right now, he would.
His flair for the dramatic took over. More than anything, his hands itched to fling the door open and demand Cash pay attention to him.
There’d been no “I’m home, honey.”
Or “how’d you fair without me?”
No “I know we’re in a fucked-up place but I’m glad to be here with you again.”
No “thank you for being so good while I was gone. I didn’t deserve it.”
Cash had just ignored him. Continued to ignore him. Dev hated being ignored. His very being was the opposite of ignorable.
He had all this hell going on with his life, and he’d been fucking worried about that disappearing asshole.
Maybe Dev’s Spidey senses had it wrong. Cash wasn’t the one out there.
Honestly, his intuition had never been overly accurate or helpful. Why start now?
Maybe he suffered from Stockholm Syndrome where he’d developed an unhealthy fixation on his captor.
Did that happen in like three days of being held hostage emotionally, if not physically?
Seemed the best explanation. All this crazy emotion was Cash’s fault anyway. Yeah. He, and his response, were all on Cash.
Dev stalked across his bedroom for the door to say that very thing to that domineering motherfucker. Seconds before his hand touched the doorknob, he reared back to cup his palm to his mouth, checking his breath.
It was fine, but the fact that he checked made his shoulders slump in defeat. He had a big thing for Cash. He couldn’t let it go and apparently didn’t want to.
With less attitude and feeling like a fucking pussy, he opened the door and listened. The only sounds came from deep, even breaths. His heart lurched forward so violently he looked down to see if it had in fact flown from his chest. His feet followed the direction of his heart’s command, purposefully, yet quietly, to the sofa.
At the edge, he spotted the big guy, way too large in both height and circumference for his couch, crashed, sound asleep. Cash slept in his fitted athletic wear. The man was beautiful. Way too handsome to have to sleep half on and half off anything.
Too nice-looking to have to live such an honorable life. Cash missed his calling as a porn star or an escort. After Dev got a taste of what the guy had to offer, he’d pay a shit ton to be with Cash again.
His cock stirred under the appraisal.
Dev suspected Cash’s exhaustion was at least partially his fault. He lowered to one knee, his gaze riveted to Cash’s sleeping face. Maybe he could see hints of the young boy he used to be. The wayward strands fell forward. Dev thought about the last couple of times they had slept together. He’d encouraged Cash to sleep, gently caressing his fingertips over Cash’s shoulders and back. Once asleep, Dev fingered the sweep of hair before rubbing the softness against his fingertips. It humanized Cash. Made his perfection seem closer to normal.
Dev lifted a hand to brush the strands off Cash’s face the way he used to.
He barely touched Cash when the slight movement startled him awake. His eyes flew open, widening to the size of half dollars. Less than a second later he bolted upright, his hand jerking toward his hip where a weapon might be holstered. Cash came up empty handed. His pretty boy’s entire body moved in that fluid way Dev found so sexy.
Cash hopped on the cushion in a crouching position, wedging in an awkward position against the arm of the couch. The man’s speed and strength were astounding and a complete turn-on.
Dev remained absolutely still, not moving a single muscle. A grin split his lips at the position they were in. “Down, boy. It’s just me.”
Cash stared hard at Dev then glanced around the room, turning this way and that, his muscles tense. After a few breaths, Cash finally relaxed. He eased back and dropped down on his ass. The man was limber, Dev knew from experience. Cash rubbed one eye. “You startled me.”
“Sleepin’ like the dead doesn’t seem very undercovery,” Dev said, teasingly.
Cash looked over at him. “Undercovery? That’s not even… Never mind. It probably isn’t,” Cash finally responded, his hand dropping from his face. “What time is it?”
Dev watched the boyish charm fade. The pretty boy transformed into the man he’d gotten to know. Dev slowly dropped his other knee to the floor, rested back on his heels as Cash placed both his feet on the floor in front of Dev.
“I’m sorry,” Dev found himself murmuring. The words encapsulated a host of deeds he’d done wrong, but he couldn’t finish the sentence. Apologies were so foreign to his lips he wasn’t sure he’d uttered it correctly.