Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
I’ve laid with her in bed. I’ve had little naps here and there, but I’ve never actually spent the entire night—or early morning, as it is—sleeping beside her.
“I did. Did you enchant me?” I tug a soft strand of blonde hair.
She reaches for my face and gently strokes my cheek. “Of course I did,” she says in that soft voice that makes my heart turn over. “I waved my magic wand and took away all the thoughts that keep you awake at night.”
If only.
Wordlessly, she snuggles up to me so her head is on my chest. I drape my arms around her and hold her there. I love the comfortable weight of her on me and sigh contentedly. Her hands are as small as a child’s, gently resting on my bare chest.
“Lyam.”
“Mmm?”
“Why don’t you sleep?”
I comb my fingers through her soft blonde hair. “Gorgeous,” I say softly. “You’re so beautiful, Cosette.”
“Are you changing the subject?”
“No, I just don’t want to take this for granted.”
“What?”
“Me. You. Us. But I’ll answer your question.”
She looks up at me and waits patiently.
“What do you remember about when Fabien and Nicolette were first together?” She’s known Nicolette longer than I have, from when they worked together back at our former establishment, La Maison.
“I knew that he bought her for the weekend,” she says. “I know that she was attacked by someone and Fabien killed him. I know that after the weekend, the two of them were a couple and they haven’t been separated since.”
“Right. But do you know anything about what they did or where I was at the time?”
A little line between her brows deepens. “No.”
Nicolette hasn’t told her then.
“Fabien hired Nicolette. I was held hostage and he had to retrieve something to set me free.”
“You’ve never told me this.”
I never wanted to.
I take a deep breath to quell the anger that rises when I remember this.
“I’ve never told anyone the details. I didn’t want my brothers to fuck things up and lose their minds, so I told them I was okay. And they rescued me. They killed the people who held me captive, but I knew then and I know now that whoever did it were only pawns in a bigger game.”
She stares at me with wide eyes and does that thing she does, stroking my chin as if she cherishes me. It soothes me.
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know,” I tell her honestly. “But I haven’t forgotten it.”
“My God, how could you?”
I shake my head and give her a squeeze. She knows. She gets it. She understands me.
“When I close my eyes and fall asleep, I’m there again. I was chained in a dark room. I knew that some of the men who came and went wore uniforms—they were part of the police force.”
She draws in a sharp breath but doesn’t say anything else, not yet.
“They hurt me, but that wasn’t the worst of it. I’m a big guy. You’ve seen the scars. They knew that if I ever got out of those chains, I’d kill them. So they used mental tactics, too.” I clench my jaw. “They kept me isolated and gave me no food or water until I thought I’d die. They told me my mother was endangered, threatened to torture my brothers, and kept me awake for days on end. I can’t sleep now because that’s how they tortured me best. They showed me pictures of children and entire cities they’d destroy if I didn’t tell them everything.”
“Oh my God,” she says. “Lyam. God, I had no idea.”
How would she? I haven’t told her.
“I don’t like to talk about it.”
“I can see why.”
Her hand comes to rest gently on my chest again.
“When I close my eyes, I go back there. It takes different forms, but I’m helpless. Chained. Tortured. Only this time, the person they have is you.”
Her voice is choked. “Lyam—”
“But not when I’m with you. When I’m with you, I close my eyes and I sleep.”
She pushes herself up and slides herself on top of me. I hold her to me when she dips her mouth to mine and kisses me. We stay like that for a while, kissing and exploring, holding each other, until I can’t stand it anymore. I roll her over and spread her legs, and while we kiss each other, I slide into her and we make love. We say with our bodies the words we can’t say any other way.
I hold her in the quiet aftermath. Then she says literally the last thing I expect.
“I think you should make plans to get Princess back."
“What?” I look at her in surprise, a little amused. “I thought you hated Princess.”
“Well,” she says thoughtfully. “No, I don’t hate snakes. I actually really like Princess. She’s the nicest snake I’ve ever met.”
She nearly jumps off my chest from the bark of laughter that bursts out of me. “No, I’m serious,” she says. “I’ve never seen a snake that was trained so well. She’s very docile, actually. But that’s not my point.”