Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
He angled in, too goddamn close to Milo’s face. “See, it’s a special night, and I’m going to need you there. I have a lot of money riding on you. You’ve always been my most prized fighter, Milo, a man I respected, but it’s time you respect me after all I’ve done for you. I won’t be made a fool again. After tomorrow’s fight, if you do as is expected of you, then you’ll be free to go.”
Then he shoved the money against Milo’s chest and leaned in close to his ear. “Don’t disappoint me.”
Then he walked out without saying anything else.
THIRTY-NINE
TESSA
Milo spun me around and pressed me to the door of my car. His hands came to frame my face, and his big body covered mine.
A burly blanket of protection.
A giddy sound rippled up my throat, and my lips were dancing all over the place, anticipating one of those kisses I’d come to crave.
The man chaos on my tongue.
Morning light warmed the new day, and he stared down at me as he traced the pad of his thumb along the line of my jaw. It was wild how the man could look at me with such tenderness while I could physically feel the well of violence that steamed beneath the surface.
Every glorious muscle in his body was tense.
Ready to strike.
“You sure you need to go into work today?”
It’d been four days since Milo had found someone lurking on his property.
Since he’d confessed what had happened to Autumn.
To the lengths he’d gone to try to avenge her death.
Ever since, he’d been completely on edge.
Watching out the windows. Pacing the floors at night.
Following me to work.
It was honestly still hard to grasp. That life. What he’d done and what he’d gotten involved in. To fully understand the severity of what he’d warned me about.
Over the past few days, he’d opened up a little more, talking about how he’d been sucked into a life he never should have stepped into. The way he’d tripped into making the same mistakes and it’d cost him his wife.
I’d seen the fear in his eyes. The truth that he believed himself wicked and weak. That he was terrified that he could trip again.
My heart panged as I thought of the way he’d stalled out, unable to speak the full horrors of what had actually happened to Autumn that night.
Or maybe he’d just been trying to protect me, keep me from the sordid details.
He’d expected that I’d run when I found out.
And yeah, I was freaked out. Saddened that he’d done what he’d done, that he’d lived the life that he had.
He was true in saying his past had been dark and ugly.
But I also believed in forgiveness if we’d moved beyond that person. If we’d sought to make a real change.
I knew he had.
I believed in who he was today.
I’d promised him I could handle all that he was, and I’d meant it because the man standing in front of me right then was good and right.
I pressed his palm closer to my cheek as I gazed up at those honey-dipped eyes that roiled with so many things.
Possession.
Protection.
Ferocity.
Desperation.
The culmination of them love.
The kind of love that made my chest feel achy and full and like it still wasn’t enough.
He was what I never could have anticipated.
My wild card.
My Ace.
“You know you’ve asked me that same thing every day this week?” I sent him a sultry smile.
A small grunt rumbled from his chest. The sound trembled through me like a caress. “I’ve had to since you’re so stinkin’ stubborn.”
“Stubborn? Who, me?” I let the tease wind from my mouth, loving the way his expression darkened as he curled a hand around my hip.
Tingles raced through my body.
I was hooked.
Craving him, and I didn’t hesitate to indulge.
Cake.
So much cake.
I’d been glutting myself on it every day.
Morning.
Night.
Noon a bunch of times, too.
It was a yummy, lovely bonus of the fact that Milo would hardly let me out of his sight.
Although I hated the circumstances.
Hated the terror that ridged his brow.
Hated the panic in the tremor of his fingers as they held on to me, like he couldn’t stomach the idea of letting me go.
I knew he was worried that his children were with their grandparents and there was nothing he could do about it, all while wondering if they were safer there.
Dread filled my soul because honestly, I didn’t know what to anticipate.
Milo had warned me again and again that the man was evil. Sick. Twisted in a way that wasn’t right.
Because of it, we were being as careful as we could.
Trying to ease some of his worry, I let my fingertip drag down over his beard until I was fluttering my fingers over his heart, my head tipped to the side as I whispered, “Like you aren’t just going to follow me, anyway.”