Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Uh-oh.
Turning, she looked up . . . into the furious face of Tanner Malone.
Shit.
“I’ve been looking all over the house for you.”
She gulped.
“I was starting to worry that you’d gone outside, wandered off, that you’d left.”
As well as anger there was a stark worry in his voice. The last thing she wanted was to hurt him. To scare him.
“I’m sorry.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Why didn’t you text me?”
“Um, well, I guessed that you’d be busy, and I, um . . .”
“You might want to tell the truth, girl,” West advised.
Great. Thanks for the advice, West.
Her shoulders slumped. “I just wanted some information. Tanner, I need it. I can’t stop my brain until I know what’s going on.”
“And you didn’t think you could ask me? That I wouldn’t tell you?”
“No, I didn’t think you would,” she said. “You’re trying to shelter me.”
“Of course I’m trying to shelter you!” he yelled. “You’re the woman I love, and you’ve been through hell! You’ve just come out of the hospital. I think I’m entitled to shelter you under those circumstances.”
“And if I didn’t have my maniac brother out there, probably getting ready to commit countless murders to get me back, I would let you.”
Tanner stalked forward. He moved around so he faced her chair. She twisted just as he leaned in to place his hands on the arms of the chair. “You are going to let me pamper and protect you or so help me I’m going to spank your ass every day for a month.”
Lilac stared up at him in shock. Did he just realize what he’d said? But as she stared at him, she saw a very real fear in his eyes. What was she doing? Was she really insisting on going back to Stefan when it was the last thing she wanted? When it seemed everyone was against the idea?
And when it was causing the man she loved such pain?
“I’m sorry.”
He blinked. “What?”
“You . . . I’ve spent so long thinking of ways to keep everyone around me safe, it’s just . . . it’s taking a bit to change my mindset to where someone might want to keep me safe. I just . . . I’ve never felt that worthy of being protected.”
“Fuck, baby. That hurts me more than you can know.” He picked her up and then sat in the chair, cradling her in his arms.
She buried her face in his chest.
“Please don’t keep trying to risk yourself, baby. Please. For my sake. Stop self-destructing. I need you.”
“I’ll try. I promise I’ll try.”
“Damn,” West said. “I was going to make a comment about how it serves you right to meet someone as reckless with their safety as you always were as a teenager, but it doesn’t seem right now.”
“You can always celebrate the fact that she’s stubborn and won’t give in easily to him,” Alec said. “She’ll give him hell. I’m taking solace in that.”
“Hmm. True.”
“Will the two of you shut up,” Tanner grumbled without any real ire in his voice.
“Lilac,” Alec said in a soft voice.
With a sigh, she lifted her head from Tanner’s neck and turned to look at Alec.
“We’re not trying to keep you in the dark. In fact, we need your help. But we don’t want to add to your stress. And we don’t want you doing something stupid.”
Okay. Way to just get straight to the point.
“I won’t do anything stupid.”
Alec stared at her while Tanner ran his hand up and down her back. Then his gaze rose to Tanner.
Tanner sighed and started to massage her neck. “I’d like to keep you out of this entirely. To tie you to the bed to ensure you don’t go anywhere. Then you’d stay where I put you, at least.”
“Tanner Malone!” she said, shocked. Sort of. She glared up at him. “I’m never going to stay where you put me.”
The gall.
Tanner sighed. “Too bad.”
“Welcome to our lives,” West muttered. “Told Flick that I wanted her to stay in bed for a month after Mitch was born. She managed two days.”
A month? He wasn’t serious?
“Also told her not to go up and down the stairs on her own while pregnant. Did she listen to me? Nope.”
“That reminds me,” Tanner said in her ear. “I haven’t forgotten that you got showered, dressed, and walked down the stairs without me.”
“I can’t do any of those things on my own?”
“Not when you’re just out of the hospital because you fainted. What if you’d gotten dizzy in the shower or coming down the stairs? No, that’s a rule until you’re feeling better.”
“I am feeling better,” she said.
“No, you’re not.”
Sheesh. She couldn’t believe him!
“I feel so proud,” West said gruffly.
“Since when did you start talking so much,” Tanner grumbled.
“Babies need words,” West replied. “Helps with their development.”
Damn. That was sweet. He didn’t look like a man who cared about a baby’s development, but he obviously adored his son and wife.