Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“Joshua.” She whispered his name. Her childhood had been relatively happy, at least until her father was tortured and murdered in front of her.
“When my grandfather turned his sights on my mother, my father took us out of there – or he tried to. Later, my mother speculated that one of the other women tipped him off that we were running. Old Man Tregre murdered his own son, shot him and then beat him to death. While that was happening, my mother took me and ran. We made our way to the rain forest in Borneo. She was originally from there, although her parents were no longer alive.”
The blow-dryer felt good moving through her hair like a warm wind. Sonia found herself leaning into it, turning her head in the direction he indicated. She loved the sound of his voice, and learning about his past. He had always talked to her, but not about things that mattered. She knew his past had shaped him – made him into the man he was now just as her past had shaped her.
“What was it like, the rain forest?”
“So truly beautiful, Sonia. I’ll take you there one day. Every leopard should go sometime, to see it and experience it as a leopard. It can be a violent way of life, but here can be just as violent.”
She knew that to be true. He shut off the blow-dryer and divided her hair into sections. She loved that he could braid hair. She pictured him with his daughters, three little girls, all waiting for him to braid their hair before going off to school. The fantasy was very vivid in her mind, and again, she had to blink back tears. After tonight, she wouldn’t have him.
She was going to do one thing right, even if it meant giving up her beloved home, her friends and the world she’d built. He deserved better. She knew he’d feel as if he had to protect her – or save her. She couldn’t let that happen.
“The rain forest has so much color. The trees, the canopy, all the birds, the exotic flowers winding around the tree trunks, all of it. It’s amazing.” His voice was low, soft. Reverent even as he talked about the place he obviously loved.
“It sounds like it.”
“Lie down. I want to give you a massage.”
“Joshua, maybe we shouldn’t…” She trailed off when he caught her braid and forced her head back so she was looking at him.
“Tell me what the fuck is wrong, Sonia. You’re already leaving. In your head, you’re leaving me. You think I can’t feel that? You retreating from me?”
She should have known he would feel her withdrawal. They were that connected. It had happened that first night. She’d looked into his leopard’s eyes and there he’d been, looking back. She’d seen him and she’d known right then he was the one. She shivered at the look in his eyes. Turbulent. Crystalline. His leopard close. Both watching her. Wary. Alert.
“I’m not retreating from you,” she denied.
“Lying to a leopard is never a good idea.” He moved away from her, giving her room. “Lie down. And if you think I won’t find you anywhere in this world, you’re dead wrong. I could and I would. It’s what I do best. You run, Sonia, and you don’t have a damned good reason such as I beat the holy shit out of you, then know I’m coming after you.”
“Beat the holy shit out of me?”
“Yeah. I do something like that, something like my vile monster of a grandfather did, then you go straight to Drake Donovan. I wouldn’t deserve you, and I’d want you safe. Drake’s the best man I know. He’d protect you from me.”
Her breath caught in her lungs. Stretched out, facedown on the bed, she turned her head to study his hard features. “Joshua, you aren’t anything like your grandfather. You’re a good man. You have compassion for people. Look what you did in Borneo. You risked your life to take back hostages, to return kidnap victims to their homes.”
He poured oil into his hands and rubbed them together to ensure warmth. “It’s easy to put your life at risk when you don’t have a fuckin’ thing to protect. To love. I didn’t go home to someone at night, Sonia. I didn’t have someone to talk to or laugh with. I had no one. Putting my life on the line didn’t seem like such a big deal.”
His hands went to her shoulders, and she closed her eyes. The feeling was indescribable. She hadn’t known just how sore and stiff she was, but his hands should have been insured. He was strong, his fingers digging deep into aching, inflamed muscles Gatita’s antics had caused, working magic. She moaned.
He brushed a kiss along her spine, his hands never stopping. “That’s the same sound you make when I’ve got my mouth between your legs, devouring all that sweet, sweet nectar you give me.”