Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Her hand moved and slid up over the pillow as she mumbled something that sounded like crop. I started to smile until my eyes stopped on her wrist. My chest tightened painfully, and I couldn’t breathe. There, on her smooth, tanned skin, was a darker mark. A bruise. One I’d put there.
Fuck.
I pressed my fingers to my temples and focused on inhaling oxygen. My head was roaring, along with the darkness that made up my entire being. I’d held her too tightly. Why hadn’t she told me? Cried out? Let me know it hurt?
I’d kill anyone else who had left a mark on her. I’d killed others for less where she was concerned. Her own mother was alive simply because knocking the bitch off would devastate Capri. It was a good thing the woman could no longer make her cry. I wasn’t sure how long I’d have been able to see her tears and let her mother live for causing them.
Reaching down, I ran the tip of my finger over her small wrist. My fingers had wrapped completely around them and overlapped. Everything about her was so dainty, perfectly formed. I’d caused her pain. I didn’t allow anyone to cause her pain.
Flinching from the reaction it’d caused, I knew I’d have to be punished. It was the only way I could deal with this. Caressing her discolored skin, I watched her face as she let out a small gasp. She wasn’t waking. I knew the signs of her waking up. The flutter of her lashes, quickened breathing, body tensing. None of that was happening. She was still dreaming.
She mumbled something else, and if I wasn’t so goddamn angry about hurting her, I’d have smiled. I couldn’t do that right now. Not when her wrist was bruised from my grip. I’d gotten so worked up with my fantasies and telling her things that should have made her shrink away from me but didn’t that I’d not paid attention to how tightly I held her.
“Thatch … er,” she breathed, and I jerked my hand back away from her.
There was no fluttering of the lashes. Her breathing was still slow and deep. She wasn’t seeing me here in her room.
I stared in complete fascination at her angelic face.
She was dreaming of me.
• Twenty-Five •
“Please don’t let my brother hear you call his horse sweet boy.”
Capri
Jerking the lid off my outside garbage can, I tossed the box of cookies inside before slamming it closed and stalking back inside the house. Two days in a row, I’d woken up to those freaking cookies. If he wanted to keep buying them and leaving them, then fine. Do it. I wasn’t taking the bait. He had made his point. I wasn’t going to give him the entertainment of my acting stupid over him anymore.
If Shephard Ranch wanted me to ride for them in a race, then I would. That was all the interaction I intended to have with Thatcher. He had made me want things that weren’t in my grasp. Well, he didn’t like virgins. The fact that I was going to stop waiting for the right guy and get it over with did not mean I was doing it for Thatcher. When I was experienced, I didn’t believe he’d want me then either. I would need to grow about seven more inches and get a boob job.
Shutting that door. Moving on.
Tomorrow night was the concert in Atlanta with Tyron, and I was excited about it. I needed it. This week had been awful, and knowing I had that to look forward to helped me get through each day. I’d decided not to run today, and I’d made an appointment for a massage at a spa in Buckhead. Esther was going, too, and we were going to enjoy the facilities that came with booking an appointment there. I was in need of the sauna and the quiet pool. The no talking or phones rule for the indoor pool was heaven. Although the quiet pool was Esther’s least favorite thing there. Maybe today, I could use her endless chatter to keep out of my own head, so we might skip that.
My phone rang as I walked back inside the house. I pulled it out of my pocket to see Sebastian’s name on the screen. Hoping this was business and not him checking up on me, I tapped Accept.
“Hello?” I answered, closing my door and locking it behind me.
“Good morning, Capri,” he replied. “Miller asked me to give you a call and see if you are ready to come back and ride Zephyr. We are looking for a new exercise rider and haven’t found one just yet. We were hoping you’d be up for that until we filled the position.”
Frowning, I stopped walking. Did he mean he wanted me to come in daily and exercise all the thoroughbreds?