Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
“We could make totally new ones,” she said but with a sad smile, as though she knew what the answer would be.
He reached around and pulled her close. “I am going to let you get on that plane. I am going to say good-bye to you. I’m going to do it to save me, and maybe that makes me a coward, but I can’t do this with you. It couldn’t work now. Honestly, it wouldn’t have worked even before. I would always be waiting for the other shoe to fall.”
Her head came up, tears shining in her eyes. “I’m going to miss you until the day I die, Joshua Hunt. Maybe longer. Someday you’re going to love a woman and she will be the luckiest woman on earth, and I need you to understand that I genuinely want that for you.”
He shook his head. She didn’t understand the full extent of his agony. “That won’t happen because I love you.”
She stepped back, taking a deep inhale and obviously trying to get herself under control. “No, you don’t. If you loved me you wouldn’t be able to leave me. A smart dude taught me that. It’s okay. We don’t get to pick who we fall in love with.”
It was perverse, but he hated the fact that she didn’t believe him. “I told you I love you. I’ve never said that to anyone.”
“Sure you have,” she replied. “You say it at the end of every movie, babe. You’re good at it.”
He knew she was trying to lighten the mood, but he didn’t want it lightened. He wanted to be acknowledged. “Don’t blow me off, Kayla. I said it and I meant it.”
Her eyes were soft on him as she spoke. “But you don’t. If you loved me, that shoe you’re waiting on wouldn’t mean anything. People in love are brave. I’m not saying you aren’t. Please understand that. I think you’re one of the bravest human beings I’ve ever met.”
“I am not.” He was fairly certain he was the worst kind of coward.
“Sometimes bravery isn’t about slaying a dragon. Sometimes bravery is about getting out of bed every morning and going to work even when the pain is so bad you can’t stand the thought of going on. I think you’re very brave, and one day you’re going to find a woman you can’t live without. I want that for you because you deserve it, and if she’s ever a bitch to you, send her my way.”
“You’ll take care of her, huh?”
She nodded solemnly.
“Like you’re planning on taking care of the woman who’s blackmailing me.”
She was silent for a moment and then she nodded again. “And Morales. I’m going to kill him too, and then he can’t put you in a bad position ever again.”
Crazy-ass bitch. She was a true psycho chick and she was going to get herself killed. She was going up against one of the most dangerous men in the world. “You can’t do that.”
“I assure you, I can.” She turned and started to reach for the soap.
Why? Why the fuck would she do that?
He gripped her arm and turned her back toward him. She made him crazy. She confused him. She made him fucking feel alive.
He leaned over and kissed her. Days of not kissing her had left him desperate for her mouth. He dominated her, needing to feel that moment when she softened against him, submitting to him. Her whole body seemed to lean into him, giving over, and in that moment he was a fucking king.
In that moment, it didn’t matter what she’d said or done because she was his and he would handle it. If it was a simple mistake, they would get through it. If she was the fucking baddest of bad guys, he would tie her down and discipline her until she never lied to him again. He could chain her to his side and make sure she never stepped out of line again.
No more assassinations. No more letting the CIA use her sweet beauty to play their wicked games. She would be his and only his, and anyone who tried to come between them would fucking find out how badass he could be when he wanted to. She would work for him and him alone, and only when he wanted her to. She would spend the rest of her life following him around the world and making animal friends and doing weird shit that made him laugh and fucking him. She would spend the rest of her life fucking him.
He crowded her, shoving her back against the wall and lifting her up. Her legs went around his hips while he never once let go of her mouth. That gorgeous mouth he dreamed of at night. She was the only woman he’d ever willfully kissed, the only one who’d ever felt the slow slide of his tongue. God, she was the only woman he’d ever willingly gone down on.