Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 103413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
That wasn’t good.
Or usual.
If anything, he would say that Lottie had always seemed overly aware of her surroundings.
This was tricky. How did he make her aware that he was here without scaring the bejeezus out of her?
He cleared his throat and deliberately bumped into one of the chairs. She still startled, her hand going to the base of her throat as she gasped and spun toward him.
“Morning, Lottie-the-hottie.” She went bright red. Hmm, maybe that one was a bit far. Perhaps it was time to go from friendly teasing to speaking to her how someone who wanted to spend the rest of his life with his head between her legs might.
Hmm how would that sound?
Muffled.
That wasn’t the only thing he wanted, of course. But it was something he was somewhat obsessed over. Having both of his loves at his disposal for whenever he got the urge to go down on them. Now that sounded like fucking heaven.
However, he also needed to take her into his arms. To promise her that the shadows haunting her would disappear forever because he was going to fucking destroy them.
But, he couldn’t do that quite yet.
“G-good morning. Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”
She looked pale and she swayed slightly. Fuck, he’d really startled her. Or maybe she hadn’t had enough sleep or food. He bit back his need to demand that she take care of herself.
Chill, man.
It wasn’t very often that he felt the need to take control. But that could be because she was the only one who roused those needs in him.
“Please, don’t apologize. I hope I didn’t frighten you. Liam said I’m light on my feet. But that’s just in comparison to him. He’s got elephant feet,” he whispered.
She gave him a tiny smile.
And didn’t that make him feel like a fucking God.
Jesus.
“Don’t tell him I said that. But really, I can hear him coming from miles away. Gives me time to hide.”
Her smile faded, her face filling with worry.
“You have to hide from him? Why? Does he hurt you?”
“What, no, pretty girl, that’s not what I meant. Liam would never hurt me. It was a joke.”
“Oh.” She didn’t look convinced.
Fuck. He’d messed that up. He was supposed to be convincing her to trust them.
“You’re not scared of Liam, are you?” He took another step forward, watching with sorrow as she tensed. Did they need to give her more time? He acted like he knew what the fuck he was doing, but he didn’t. He didn’t have a fucking clue whether he was doing the right thing. Or making it worse.
And that was terrifying.
Usually, when something scared him, he didn’t think about it too much. It just became counter productive, and there was no point in worrying about shit.
But this was fucking important. He couldn’t mess this up, then walk away.
“Of course not,” she replied.
He could tell she was lying. Well, fuck.
He guessed it wasn’t anything he shouldn’t have expected.
“Liam’s not a bad guy.” Yeah, most people would see him that way after the things he’d done in his past. But he would never harm her or Nico.
Maybe he was considered a monster, but he could be her monster.
He was big enough, mean enough to keep her nightmares away. To keep her safe.
It was Nico’s job to ensure she figured that out. Oh, and that she needed him too. They were a package deal. But of course she’d want him; he was fucking amazing.
“I didn’t mean to imply that he was. Please don’t take offense.” Her fingers were so tight around the paintbrush he was worried she was hurting herself.
“It takes a lot to cause me offense, promise. There’s no reason for you to be scared of Liam. He’d never hurt you.”
“I know that.” She managed a smile, and he breathed out a relieved breath. Okay, maybe she wasn’t as afraid of Liam as he’d first thought. “My brothers would kill him if he touched me.”
Ouch. All right, back to square one. She only felt confident that Liam wouldn’t hurt her because her brothers would protect her.
“Let me tell you a story about Liam. Before I met him, I was in a toxic relationship. It was with the lead singer of this band. I really wanted to make it as a musician, and he said he’d help me. But, basically, he was grooming me to become his sexual plaything.”
“Oh, Nico.”
“I was young and stupid. When he dumped me . . . well, I thought my world would end. You won’t believe how he broke up with me. Kicked me off the tour bus in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere.”
“What did you do?”
“Walked. Had a backpack, my guitar, and thirty dollars to my name. Despite the fact that I’d worked like a slave for those assholes, they never paid me.”
“Nico, that’s terrible.”
“There I was, plodding down the road, broken-hearted, when the skies opened up and it started pouring rain. A few vehicles drove past, but no one stopped. I gave up putting my thumb out. And then this expensive-fucking car races past me, straight through a puddle, splashing me. Then to my shock, the car pulled over. Guess who walked out?”