Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 155037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 517(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 517(@300wpm)
“Oh, drat.”
“Tink, you need to be more careful. You’re going to injure yourself,” he scolded as he removed the blanket from around her.
“I had to stop you.”
“You’re not stopping me. I’m going to teach that bastard that it’s not okay to go around pressuring women into dates. Fucking dick.”
“Loki, he didn’t pressure me. Not like . . . not like you’re thinking. Remy is a good guy. There aren’t many men who would sleep on the floor because he was worried about me being alone. Or stay the next day and fetch eggs from she-demons, then help me bake cupcakes. And make sure I was fed. He bought groceries for us.”
“That’s where those groceries came from?” Fuck. Now he felt even worse. He’d left and she hadn’t even had food. Or a working security light. Although that was odd since it had been working the night before.
Something else he owed Remy for. And he didn’t like that.
“All right. So I won’t teach him a lesson.”
She gave a relieved sigh, rubbing her forehead again.
“You’ve got a headache.”
“Yeah, a tiny one.”
Which meant she was actually in a heck of a lot of pain. Since Tink also didn’t like to tell people when she was hurting.
“Sit back on the couch. I’m going to get you some painkillers and a heating pad.”
He plugged in the heating pad and then got the painkillers and a large glass of water.
She took the pills and sipped the water.
“Drink all of that,” he told her. “Knowing you, you barely stopped all day to drink or eat.”
“Tink, I’ve been a selfish asshole,” he said after placing the heating pad around her neck.
“What do you mean?” she asked, looking up at him in surprise. “You’re not a selfish asshole.”
“Yeah, I am.” He crouched in front of her, taking her hands in his. They felt cold. Shit. He grabbed the blanket, placing it over her.
Tink didn’t usually feel the cold, but it seemed like she had been lately.
“I’m a dick who wants to keep you all to myself. But that’s not fair. You told him you’d go and you should. Like you should answer his texts. Because, unlike me, you’re a good person.”
“You’re a good person, Loki. Better than me. Just think of all the things you’ve done for people in this town—”
He reached up and placed a finger over her lips. “Let’s not talk about that.” He was only doing what anyone else would. “I want you to go out with him.”
All right . . . so sometimes they lied to each other.
The skeptical look she gave him proved that she was thinking the same thing.
“I do. I don’t want you to not make friends or . . . or to meet someone because of me.”
Fuck that was hard to say.
She winced and glanced down, her fingers tangled around each other.
“Tink, we’re always going to have each other. You and me, we’re forever. Right?”
She looked up at him, her lips trembling slightly. “Of course we are. Forever.”
Leaning forward, he kissed the tip of her nose, and for a moment, they just breathed each other’s air, their lips close enough that it would only take an inch or two and he’d be kissing her.
The way he’d always wanted to.
But never dared.
Her scent teased him. Those lush, full lips called to him.
God. He wanted her.
Do what’s best for her.
Loki forced himself to pull away, sitting beside her. His dick was hard as steel and he just hoped that she didn’t notice.
“We’re okay?” she whispered as he drew her in close to him, wrapping his arm around her.
“We’re always okay, Tinkerbelle. There is nothing that could ever come between us.”
20
This just didn’t feel right.
And she hated that she felt this way. She should be happy to be with Remy. A thank-you from her to him. Even though he seemed to think he would be paying.
Which he would not.
She’d gotten paid yesterday, and she’d made certain to keep a good amount in her checking account for tonight.
So she’d be paying, even if she had to be sneaky about it.
She snuck a look across the table at him. Remy was gorgeous. Smart. He was calm and careful with her. And she liked all of that.
She wanted more with him. More time. More dates. More fun.
But that wasn’t all she wanted.
“Selfish bitch.”
“What the hell? Isa? Hey. Look at me. Right now.”
She raised her face, glancing across the table at him. They were at this really lovely steakhouse that had opened in Stepford. She’d chosen the restaurant after admitting that she didn’t want to go out to dinner in Wishingbone. There were too many nosey parkers.
And she figured a steak house was a good bet for a cowboy. Plus, he looked like a man who could pack away a lot of grub.
All those muscles . . .
“Oh, sorry,” she said, realizing that she hadn’t talked in a while. “This is a nice place, isn’t it? I’ve never been here. Loki only really likes eating in Wishingbone.”