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)
My knees knocked with the impact of it. “But don’t you worry. It’s all just fake. Completely fake. Right?” I didn’t mean to let the last word hitch with hope.
My stomach flipped as the foolish girl inside me hoped this might include the two of us getting naked.
His eyes took a quick jaunt over my body. “Wouldn’t dream of touching you, Tessa.”
“Well, now you’re just offending me.” My lips curled a fraction. Like all of this was no big deal when I was pretty sure what I’d just offered wasn’t going to come without consequences.
Being in his space like this. Wanting him when he would never want me. Already half in love with a man who would never love me back.
“You know you’re stunning, Tessa. Every fuckin’ inch of you. Inside and out. I just won’t be the fool to dream of it for myself.”
That lump in my throat throbbed, and nervously, I wrung my fingers together.
“I want to help you,” I whispered, so quietly. “I want to help you get your kids back. This is where they belong. Let’s do this, Milo. Together.”
His big palm glided up my neck and settled on the side of my face. “Are you sure?”
“I am,” I promised.
No matter the cost.
The affection in his gaze threatened to burn me to bits. “Thank you. I won’t ever be able to repay you.”
“I’m not asking you to repay me, Milo. This is what friends do.”
“Never thought I’d have a friend quite like you.”
“Well, I am pretty amazing.” I winked.
His thumb slipped across the apple of my cheek, no lightness in his tone when he murmured, “You are completely amazing.”
I gulped, caught in the intensity, in his warmth that was nothing but a trap.
I hopped off his bed before I did something stupid like crawl into his lap. “I’d better get back to bed.”
He nodded slowly, his gaze tracing me in the lapping shadows. “Okay.”
Turning, I headed for the door because I had to get out of there before it became too much.
I had my hand on his doorknob when his voice caressed me from behind. “Thank you, Tessa. I mean it in a way you don’t understand. Even if it doesn’t turn out in my favor, my gratitude toward you will be unending.”
From over my shoulder, I peered back at him. “This is going to be risky, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. But the risk is all on me, and there’s nothing I won’t do for my kids.”
I nodded around the disorder that blew through my spirit. “Then I’m happy to do it with you.”
Before either of us could say anything else, I opened his door and made a beeline for the guest room, thinking it might sever the attraction that had left me a needy mess.
My body aching for him was one thing.
That, I could handle.
But I knew, deep down, it was my heart that was at risk.
NINE
MILO
It was a bit after eight the next morning when she shuffled out of her room the same way as I’d come to expect her to do.
All cute and rumpled and looking like she needed a straight shot of coffee injected into her veins.
Red hair a flaming mess, eyes sleepy, a slight grin on her rosebud lips that always grew when she saw me standing in the kitchen.
“Hey, Little Dove,” I murmured, trying to keep my cool as she crossed the room.
Hard to do when she wore a tight tank that matched these tiny sleep shorts that barely covered her ass and showed off those long-ass legs.
The woman had really set her sights on doing me in.
That in itself was enough to do stupid things to my dick. Pair it with what she’d offered me last night?
Tessa had me totally off-kilter. Pitched in a place where I didn’t know whether to be ashamed or dropping to my knees in gratitude.
“Morning, Milo.” Her voice was cautious, something almost shy about it, her gaze unsure, like she was trying to decipher if what’d gone down last night was real or if it’d been a bad dream.
I poured her a cup of coffee before she even made it to the island, and I slid it her direction as she propped herself onto a stool. I passed her the creamer, too.
She hummed. “My hero.”
I grunted. “Hardly. I think you’re mine.”
She stared at me from behind her coffee cup. “You’re kind of amazing, too, you know that?”
“Not always, Tessa.” Half of me wanted her to understand the truth of it, the other wanted to hide it. Keep her in the dark, where she’d keep looking at me like I was something good and right.
Like I hadn’t chased down sin and started a fallout that had cost everything.
Silence hovered in the air between us, two of us contemplating what we’d gotten ourselves into. She took a sip of her coffee, studying me carefully before she set her mug on the counter, going all business. “So, how are we going to handle this thing?”