Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 72692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
I feel my eyes widen as I shake my head from side to side. My voice comes out in a tremulous whisper. “Do I look like someone who’s ever done this before?”
“That’s like asking if you look like someone who would lie or steal,” he replies, still gripping my jaw. My skin tingles where he touches me. I tell myself to look away. I tell myself we’re not playing games here. I’m only here for protection and I owe him nothing.
“What do you mean?”
“You can’t tell by looking at someone what they’d do or what they wouldn’t.”
Can he tell by looking in my eyes that I’m not a virgin?
Can he tell by looking in my eyes that the only sex I’ve ever had was super shitty and was all about my selfish bastard of a boyfriend getting his? That I’ve never… actually… climaxed?
Does he know I devour romance books to ease my awkwardness and uncertainty around sex, because I don’t want to come across as an inexperienced virgin?
Can he tell what I want him to do to me?
I lick my lips and swallow again.
“You’re tired,” he says. I’m not sure why his tone sends a shiver down my spine.
I nod wordlessly.
“You need sleep.”
I nod again.
“So do you,” I whisper.
“From now on, you let me worry about what you need, and I will give you what you do.”
“That… I don’t know…” I find myself at a loss for words. I shake my head.
“What is it?”
“If you do everything for me,” I ask, as a touch of unease washes through me, “doesn’t that make me like a child?” I shake my head, unsure of any of this.
“Not at all. You’ll always have full autonomy. You can walk away at any moment.” I can hear the implication in his tone. But you won’t want to.
How much of this is “practice” and how much of this is because he wants to do this with me?
Can I trust Thayer?
He’s the one Nicolette sent me to. He’s my brother-in-law’s brother...
Would Nicolette send me to Thayer if he can’t be trusted?
Does she know what this place is?
We stand so close I can feel his breath on my skin. The raw, powerful masculine scent he wears makes me want to run my hands all along his hardened muscles and the flat, solid planes of his stomach.
I’m not sure that’s allowed.
What would it take for him to allow it?
I’m not sure the word allow ever crossed my mind when it came to men, but with him… it’s almost instinctual. I know before he tells me that permission and rules will play heavily into whatever it is we’re going to do.
“For now, we need sleep,” he says, still holding my gaze. Wordlessly, he traces his fingertip along the bridge of my nose, across the outline of my lips, down the length of my jaw. The places he touches feel electrified.
“Sleep,” I repeat with a nod. The backs of my eyelids feel so heavy, I know I need sleep, but it’s hard to reconcile my need to rest with the thrilling curiosity vibrating through my body. “Are you going to sleep, too?” I have this strange suspicion he’s going to work while I sleep, or sit and watch me, and I don’t know how I feel about that. The other reason I ask is because there’s only one bed in this room.
“Yeah, baby,” he says softly, his voice gritty with exhaustion. “I’m going to sleep, too. C’mere.”
He curses harshly under his breath, almost as if he’s angry.
I’m so tired, I can hardly hear him, but it sounds as if he says, “Why do you have to be so perfect?” I look down at myself, a little bemused.
Is that really what I heard? Perfect? Me?
Somehow, he’s got the satin pajamas in his hands. Somehow, I end up in his lap as we sit on the edge of the bed. He pulls the shorts on slowly, the soft material gliding over my skin with ease. It’s so comfortable it feels like the height of luxury. Next, the tank.
“Get under the covers,” he orders. He folds the corner of the bed down as I climb in, my body craving the comfort and rest I need so badly. I sink gratefully onto the pillows, my eyes already closed. I sigh contentedly. This bed feels as if it were made for a queen.
I’m dimly aware of water running in the bathroom. Lights dimming. A rustle as he changes out of his clothes. The bed beside me sinking a little when he climbs in beside me.
So much has gone on today, I wonder if I’ll have a hard time letting it all go, but when I feel the comforting warmth of his body next to mine, I find it easier than I thought.
The heavy weight of his arm strewn over my body. My back against his chest, he curls his strong body around me so I’m cocooned in his warmth and strength. I’m struck with the irony—the very night I resist having a bodyguard assigned to me, I end up taken into the custody of a man who will master me and guard me more intensely than any bodyguard ever would.