Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
The Fox stared down at him for a long moment. Shoot. Had he broken him?
“That’s for your own safety at the moment. There are still things that need to be done. I’ve got to finish this job. And it’s safer for you both if I stay in the shadows. Unless I bring you both back to my den. But you wouldn’t be able to leave. Is that what you want?”
Dear God, no.
He shook his head. “No. That isn’t what I want. And you can’t do that to Autumn. You know she had a panic attack last time you suggested it.” Being locked away again might harm her more than they knew.
“Then we do things like this.”
He couldn’t believe he was doing this. Actually considering this.
“And rules and boundaries?”
The Fox scowled. “There will be no boundaries between us.”
Brody stared at him in surprise. “Ahh, there are some things I won’t do.”
“There will be nothing that you hold back from me. You will not lie. You will not keep things from me.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I meant. I meant . . . like I’m not really into blood play. No knives. No whips. I don’t like the sound they make. No calling me names or putting me down. That’s something we need to discuss.”
“Why would I want to put you down? I only want you to see yourself as amazing. Like I already do.”
Holy heck. “Right . . . that’s what I mean. You’re not into degradation either.”
“I will allow no one to degrade you. Not even yourself. Understand me? You will tell me if anyone talks badly about you. And I’ll kill them,” he said fiercely.
“You can’t kill everyone who says something bad about me.”
The Fox cupped the side of his face. “Of course I can.”
Of course, he could. He was the Fox.
“Then you’re going to be kept really busy.”
The Fox grabbed his chin, tilting his head back. “Give me the list. I’ll get to work.”
Brody stared up into his eyes, gulping heavily. “Why do I feel this pull toward you? It’s like as soon as you touch me, everything else disappears.”
“You mean, you forget I’m the bad guy?”
He’d certainly done bad things, but he wasn’t all bad. Or all good. He was just the Fox. And Brody couldn’t get him out of his head.
“I don’t think of you as bad or good. I just think of you as . . .”
Mine.
But he couldn’t say it. Not yet.
The other man ran his thumb over Brody’s lower lip. “You consent to me touching you?”
“Yes, but I was thinking . . . I mean . . . I kind of like how you . . . I just . . .”
“Brody.”
“I guess I like feeling like I don’t have control, but at the same time I want a safety net. Does that make sense?”
The Fox rested his hands on the wall on either side of his head. “You like me taking charge, dominating you, doing what I like with you . . . but you don’t fully trust me?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“You’re going to trust me. You should trust me.”
He didn’t understand.
“But I will give you time. And a safeword until you do.”
Relief filled Brody. “Good. I’ll use red.”
“How much time do you think you need? A week?”
Brody couldn’t help but grin. “How about we play it by ear?”
The Fox moved his mouth along Brody’s jaw. “I like how smooth you are.”
“I tried to grow a beard once, and my sisters told me I looked like I had a moth-eaten rug glued to my face.”
The Fox drew back, his eyes cold.
Uh-oh.
“I don’t like that. I don’t like them saying that to you.”
Oh hell. Oh hell.
He had to find a way to teach the Fox when to take something seriously and when it was a joke. Otherwise, Brody had the feeling he was going to have a trail of dead bodies in his wake.
“That was a joke.”
“Why would you joke about that? It doesn’t seem very funny.”
“No, I mean. They were just joking.”
“By making fun of you? I don’t like that,” the Fox stated.
“Yes . . . but . . . they don’t mean anything by it. They’re my sisters. It’s like their job.”
“It’s their job to make fun of you?”
“It’s a big sister-little brother thing.”
“Hmm. So, I shouldn’t make them pay for upsetting you?”
“You should never do anything to my sisters. I love them.”
“Even though they said your beard was bum fluff?”
“Well, they didn’t say that exactly. But yeah, I still love them. And it would upset me if you harmed them.”
“I would not like to upset you,” the Fox murmured.
“Good.” Whew. One crisis averted.
“But what they said upsets me. And you should make sure that I’m never upset.”
Yeah, that wouldn’t be a good thing.
“Right. So, I shouldn’t tell you when they jokingly say something about me.”