Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112244 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112244 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
I quickly changed tack.
“Oh, that would be wonderful. Only…” I sniffled feebly. “I didn’t want to mention this because I wanted to make a good first impression, but now that I know how you feel about me, I feel like you should know.” I batted my eyelashes just a little. “See, when I’m overwhelmed, I get certain, erm… symptoms?” I glanced around the empty hallway and whispered, “Toilet symptoms. It’s not contagious, of course! Not at all. But I do need Gatorade. And Imodium. And saltines. Then more Imodium, and so forth, kind of in a cyclical pattern? At home, my cousin sings me this song from Moana in between bouts and does the voices? I could… I could maybe find YouTube video of it for you if you don’t already know the words. It lulls me to sleep… at least for a few minutes before I’m up and at it again. But I’m perfectly fine again after six, maybe eight, hours or so.” I smiled at him gratefully. “I’ve never had a boyfriend before, but it’ll be so nice to have someone to call to for more toilet paper while I’m incapacitated. This will be such a bonding experience for—” I clapped a hand to my stomach. “Oh. Oh, gracious. We should really head upstairs now.”
His face morphed during my little speech until he finally decided I was too much of a hot mess to deal with.
“Actually, I ah…” He moved his arm out from under my hand. “I wonder if you’d feel better in your own room. Just for tonight.”
I tried not to let out a giant breath of relief. “Oh? Well… I suppose, if you think it’s best.”
He nodded. “I do. But you message me later to let me know how you’re doing, and then we’ll meet up tomorrow. Stop by the hotel gift shop on your way through the lobby to get that… medicine.” The edge of his lip curled up.
“Sure,” I said with another sniff. “You’ll stay and tell me how the party goes? Fill me in on everything tomorrow?”
“Yep. No problem.”
“If you change your mind,” I began, but Linus was already beating a hasty retreat to the ballroom.
“Get some rest,” he called over his shoulder.
I shuddered again but lost no time in getting away from there. I hustled around the corner and whipped out my phone. Before I could dial Hux, I was body-slammed by someone I hadn’t seen.
Suddenly, warm bands of iron locked around me, and the scent of Hux’s sandalwood deodorant was in my nose. Safety. Familiarity. Comfort.
All the fears I’d held back with Adam… Linus… crashed over me in a wave, and tears sprang to my eyes.
“Shh, shhh. Got you. You’re okay. You’re fine,” he murmured in my hair. “You did so good. So, so good, Kev. You were amazing.”
He babbled reassurance while we held each other and tried to calm down. Part of me wanted to be stronger, worried that Hux would go back to handling me like glass if I showed him how truly afraid I’d been. But the other part of me needed comfort too much to care.
“I wasn’t.” This time when I sniffled, it wasn’t part of any act. “I sucked. All my tough talk with you upstairs and I couldn’t even get the tracker on him. I blew this opportunity. I failed the team.”
Hux pulled me back and gripped my face between his hands. “Stop,” he said firmly. “You didn’t fail anyone. I knew that Anomaly had to be part of the HOG cartel ring, but you were the one who just positively ID’d him as Vince’s accomplice at the motel. That’s a huge deal. And as for the rest… Shit goes wrong, Kevin. That’s the number one rule of every mission. Why isn’t Champ’s group here right now with us? Because shit went wrong on their op, and they need more time to try again. That’s all this is.” His fingers tightened, forcing me to look at him. “I was close enough to hear everything. You weren’t alone. And if you’d needed me to, I would have laid that fucker out before he got a glimpse of my face. But you handled it. Do you hear me?”
I nodded as much as I could around his fingers, and Hux must’ve seen the truth in my eyes because he nodded once also. He dropped his hand away from my face only to grasp my fingers instead and pull me toward the elevators. His grasp was like an industrial-strength rubber band, and I relished the feeling of protection it gave me.
Jasper Huxley was angry. He was trying his hardest to hide it from me, but there were enough little indicators to alert anyone who knew him well that he was seething with rage on the inside at how close we’d come to disaster, thanks to fucking Linus.