Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24688 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 99(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24688 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 99(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
I should give her a fake name, but I can’t pass up the opportunity to hear her say my real one once again. “Mateo.”
“Mateo,” she echoes gently—and an invisible clamp tightens around my heart. “Could I stay out here with you for a little while? I needed to get out of the house for a couple of hours, but it’s useless to run away completely. I’ve tried before. Pace will just find me and bring me back.”
Jealousy rips through my gut at the mere mention of his name.
I’m not simply wading into dangerous territory here, I’m jumping in feet first, growing more infatuated with the grown-up version of my magical girl by the moment. There doesn’t seem to be any way to stop, either. “Pace sounds like an interesting character,” I remark, rubbing her back in circle, inhaling deeply against the crown of her head. “Are you scared of him?”
“The answer to that is pretty complicated.” She worries her bottom lip between her teeth, making my dick jolt and throb. “I know he would never hurt me…physically. But he’s forcing me to be the main attraction at a debutante ball tonight. I’m coming out to society, letting them know I’m at a marriageable age. I don’t want to get married, though.”
Even as my gut rebels over the idea of her marrying another man, I admit silently that her explanation…doesn’t track. At all. Even through binoculars, a quarter mile away, it’s impossible to mistake the obsession in Pace’s eyes for Magnolia. My own eyes are growing more and more similar by the second, no doubt. Obsessive on top of what was already an existing obsession. And it makes no sense that Pace would be attempting to marry her off to someone else.
“I’m sorry, Magnolia,” I say quietly against her ear, knowing full well what I’m doing. Trying to turn her against Pace. Trying to make her mine, instead. It’s sick, but I’m incapable of anything else. I came here to collect her. Bring her home—and home is with me. “He shouldn’t discount your feelings like that. It isn’t fair.”
Her eyes are welling with gratitude when she looks up at me. “Thank you. For listening to me. No one seems to listen to what I want.”
“Of course. I’ll listen as much as you want.” I’m growing increasingly nervous about standing out here in the open, though. If anyone realizes she’s gone, they’re going to begin searching. My tent is camouflaged and it’s unlikely someone would take the same exact path as Magnolia and stumble upon my camp, but we need to get out of sight. “Do you want to come inside my tent for a little while?”
“I probably shouldn’t.” She lays her cheek on my shoulder, and I draw her closer, so close that she’s curved against me, standing on her tiptoes. There’s no hiding my arousal anymore—it’s right there, sandwiched between my lap and her stomach. Why doesn’t she seem repelled or outraged? “It just feels so nice, having someone to talk to who isn’t ordering me around,” she sighs.
“Magnolia, I’m sorry about…” I shift side to side. “My body just likes holding yours.”
She hums, pressing tighter. “I don’t understand. Sorry about what?”
“My cock is hard. You don’t feel that?”
“I feel it.” She blinks up at me. “Isn’t it supposed to be like that?”
All at once, it dawns on me. Every man she spends time with gets hard. It’s her normal. I don’t know whether to be relieved or irritated, so I settle on both. “Yeah. It is. Never mind.”
She considers me a moment. “Are you sure you want me to come into your tent? I’ll probably just complain some more. Birds are probably a lot more soothing.” Trepidation dances across her features. “And if Pace finds me with you…”
“I’m not scared of Pace, sweetheart.” I reverse our positions and back her slowly toward the tent. “I know how to handle myself.”
“But…I don’t want you to hurt him, either. It’s so confusing.”
“Nothing has to be confusing right now, Magnolia. You can relax with me.”
I reach past her to unzip the tent, guiding her inside. Once I’ve followed her into the shelter, I zip the nylon closed behind us. I find her already sitting cross legged on the ground and I join her there, pulling her into my lap and tucking her head beneath my chin. Out of the corner of my eye, I double-check that none of my intelligence tools are sticking out of my backpack, nor is my gun visible. As far as she knows, I’m just a bird watcher who accidentally trespassed on the land of one of the most notorious mob bosses in the United States.
“Complain away,” I say, stroking her hair, groaning inwardly over the perfect press of her ass on my erection. Every time she inhales, it’s like a fist stroke. God, I already need to fuck her so badly. I didn’t even know hunger this potent existed. “I’m listening.”