Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 117379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
I stood up and stripped quickly. Em watched at first, then turned her eyes away as I reached for my briefs. I considered leaving them on to make her more comfortable. Yeah, fuck that. I pulled them down, then crawled across the bed and lay over her, lowering my face down to hers, catching her lips with mine.
I didn’t bother with the sweet kisses. My cock had been hard for a hell of a long time and the idea of her touching it was almost more than I could handle. Probably a good thing she still had her clothing on.
Otherwise I might just lose control and push deep inside.
I knew damned well that would be a huge mistake for any number of reasons. Not least of these was the fact that most people would consider it rape. Picnic Hayes would probably be among those people and he had enough reason to kill me already.
Fear of her father wasn’t why I was determined to hold back, though. Some small, rational part of me didn’t want her looking back and rewriting what happened between us, to believe I forced her. Since when did I give a shit about a woman’s regrets? I figured it was better not to consider that too carefully.
Em pulled free after a minute and nuzzled my neck.
“Unlock me,” she whispered.
Fuck it.
I reached up and unlocked her, bracing myself for an attack. Instead I felt her arms come around me, their delicious warmth tracing along my back toward my ass.
Shit, that felt good.
I kissed down her neck and then started unhooking that goddamned corset. It must’ve had thirty little fasteners. I’d always thought these things were hot as fuck, but my interest in them was fading fast.
“Let me,” she said softly. I looked into her eyes and they were all soft and full of need. “Roll off for a minute, okay?”
I rolled off her and she blushed, then turned away.
“I’ve already seen your tits, babe.”
“It’s a lot, Liam,” she said softly. “Just give me a sec, okay?”
“Okay,” I said, letting my eyes trail down her back. I really loved that little tramp stamp of hers. Tacky as hell, but I’d always been a sucker for them.
Nice to have a target.
“What does your tat say?”
She sighed heavily.
“It’s supposed to say ‘Forever,’ ” she said. “My sister and I got them one night not long after our mom died, that’s why the angel wings. We wanted it to be a memorial to her. I have to admit, we were a little drunk when we came up with it … It was a bad time in our lives. But the guy who did it was a fucking idiot. It actually means ‘squirrel.’ ”
“Shit,” I said, trying to hold back a snort of laughter. Thou shalt not laugh at the naked girl when she’s about to touch your cock. “Well, I guess nobody looking at it would know. How’d you find out?”
“When I went to college,” she said. “I did a semester over in Seattle. My roommate was Chinese, so she filled me in.”
“That sucks.”
“Not as much as my mom dying,” she muttered. She seemed to be struggling with the corset, and I was just about to ask her if she was okay when she rolled back and clocked me over the head with a heavy, hardback book.
Well fuck.
Really shouldn’t have let my little head do all the thinking.
Chapter Five
EM
It wasn’t the best of weapons.
A gun would’ve been nice, or a baseball bat. Maybe pepper spray.
Knife?
I knew how to use them all. For the most part, my dad drove me crazy growing up. He was overprotective, overbearing, controlling … paranoid. Just paranoid enough to spend a certain amount of time teaching his girls to look at anything and everything as a potential weapon.
Even books.
God bless Stephen King, because the hardback I’d found wedged between the wrought-iron headboard and the wall was fucking huge. It had obviously been back there for a hell of a long time, too. Totally covered with dust.
I didn’t feel a moment of guilt as I slammed it down onto Liam’s head, just savage satisfaction. I wasn’t under any illusion that this was a stellar escape plan. The odds were against me. But if I managed to hit him just right, I might be able to knock him out long enough to cuff him.
Then I’d only have Skid to deal with.
I figured the longer we stayed kidnapped, the more likely it was more Jacks would show up. Waiting for a better shot wasn’t worth the risk—at least that was my logic.
The book hit Liam with a satisfying thud, knocking him to the side. I followed it with a smash against the side of his face, which he managed to block with his arm.
Still knocked him off the bed, though.
In an instant I was up and over him, kicking him as hard as I could. I’d aimed for his crotch but he twisted at the last minute, blocking me. Liam sprang back up—rather impressively, I have to admit—and then it was all over. He tackled me against the bed, pinning me down with his full weight. One hand caught both of mine and dragged them high over my body. The other covered my mouth, immobilizing my head so I couldn’t head-butt him.