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)
“Josh, this changes nothing. It makes me think no less of you. It makes me think more.”
“When I was seventeen, I killed a man. Killing him was the only way I could escape.”
“Good. Now I can kill the rest of them.” She would make a hobby of it. There could be a list and she would study each of them and torture them in psychologically significant ways before she killed them.
He shifted, rolling on top of her. “I killed someone, Kayla.”
He seemed to forget who he was talking to. “I’ve killed lots of people, Joshua.”
“Yeah, well this wasn’t sanctioned by the US government.”
“It was sanctioned by right, by self-defense,” she argued. “Was the man you killed planning on using you in a nonconsensual way?”
“Yes.”
She reached up, cupping his face, that gorgeous face that was both heaven and hell for Joshua Hunt. “Then fuck him. Fuck all of them.”
“I don’t even know where I was held most of the time. When I escaped I was in Ohio. I was so far from home and I didn’t know anything. I should have gone to the police, but the man I killed was, well, he was wearing a suit and looked clean, and I wasn’t. They always told me if I ever talked to the police, no one would believe me. I would be one more piece of trash trying to find a meal ticket. I ran and hid and prayed they didn’t find me. By that time they’d taken Hannah out of the place I was being held. We were held together for years. They pretended we were siblings. She was the blonde angel and I was the dark-haired devil. She became a lot like a sister to me, but she got badly addicted. I worried she would overdose. I hated not being with her. Heroin was one of the ways they kept us all calm and quiet. I didn’t have anyone left to protect so I did what I did. I was utterly lost and that was when Tina found me.”
“I’m glad she did.” She’d been right. Not a word out of his mouth changed a thing. “This is why you have the children’s charity.”
“I have to help in some way.” He dropped his forehead to hers. “I’m glad you’re not running.”
She had to smile at that because he was pretty much lying on top of her. She couldn’t run if she wanted to, and that was likely somewhere in the back of his head. He caged her, but this was one cage she didn’t want to be free of. As long as he stayed in it with her. “I told you I never run away from a good thing.”
“You need to know that I am rapidly falling in love with you, so you better mean that,” he whispered right above her lips.
“And you remember what I told you,” she replied. “You are not alone in this. I’m right there with you.”
He kissed her again, this time sweet and brief, and then he rolled off her, cradling her close. “Get undressed and get into bed with me. I want to hold you. I’m tired.”
And he’d just talked about the worst moment in his life. He needed pure affection, not sex. She chucked her clothes off and settled in beside him. His body was big and warm.
Thank god for her dads. There was zero chance the evening would have ended like this if they hadn’t shown up. She wasn’t sure if Josh would have gone through with his threats, but she definitely wouldn’t be climbing into bed with him. This wasn’t a change for the night. They’d crossed a bridge and there was no going back.
He pulled the covers over them and laid down, his tension palpable. “I’ve never slept with anyone. Not in years and years. If I have a bad dream…”
“I’ll wake you up and we’ll deal with it.” She laid her head on his chest and breathed him in. He’d taken a shower at some point and smelled clean and fresh and masculine.
“And if I try to hurt you?”
“I’ll put you on your ass. Now do you want to know what you get when you sleep with me?” She had the feeling it would be difficult for him to close his eyes, his mind still back in the past.
He chuckled, his lips finding her head. “Besides getting put on my ass?”
“You get a bedtime story.” She would give him something else to think about. He had a spectacular imagination. She’d seen some of his ideas for films. If she told him a story, he would see it in his head like a film being exhibited just for him.
He rolled to his side and curled against her. “Excellent. Tell me a story.”
“So I was in Singapore,” she began. “And my handler was supposed to meet me there.”