Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“You don’t have to do this,” she murmurs from the bed.
I’m lying on the floor, my arm tucked under my head, staring at the ceiling and listening for any noises in the hallway. There are so many ugly thoughts in my head, whispers of violence, hints at the terrible things that could happen to her.
“I’m doing it,” I tell her.
“No need for the asshat tone, either.”
I smirk. “Asshat?”
“Yes, you, with your tone.”
“My tone makes me sound like I’m wearing an ass like a hat, does it?”
“Stop being a smartass.”
“Never known how an ass could be smart,” I tell her.
“Ha, ha, ha,” she mutters with adorable sarcasm.
“Try to get some sleep. We’ll be riding again soon.”
“To deliver the mysterious package,” she says softly.
My stomach tightens. She’s been in the life long enough not to ask, though she knows that Ryan and I have never been into that druggy crap. It could be a firearm to another MC involved in a war, a hard drive containing cryptocurrency, or compromising videos to blackmail those who deserve it—stuff like that.
It’s none of those things. It’s another sign of what a good brother Ryan is, and here I am, fighting the urge to climb into bed with his kid sister, resisting the urge to touch her all over again.
“Are you sure you’re comfortable down there?”
“I’m not leaving you alone,” I tell her, “and my mattress won’t fit through the door.”
“Uh, okay.”
The pause when she says uh makes me wonder if she will suggest something. Maybe she’s thinking of inviting me up there with her. Perhaps she wants to taste me again, just as badly as I want her.
We’re silent for a while. Part of me hopes she’s sleeping. I know I won’t be able to. Not until I know she’s safe. The hotel has security, but that can be circumvented—a bribe, a contact within the hotel, or a good alibi. If anybody kicks this door down, I’ll have my gun in my hand in a couple of seconds. I’ll kill…
She huffs and sighs. She’s not asleep.
“Settle down.”
She huffs again. “I can’t sleep.”
“Why? What are you thinking about?”
“Dad,” she says softly. “And Ryan. And that man from earlier. And a poem I’ve been trying to write. And…”
I wait.
“That’s the part where you ask me what, Kai,” she says.
I smile. I can’t help myself. I’m the one who told her we had to forget what we did, but with each comment, she draws me in. She makes me want to hold her, laugh with her, be with her.
“Isn’t that enough?” I laugh. “I can barely fit one thought in my head at a time, let alone all that.”
Her laugh is so sweet. It feels like I earned it, and it matters. Everything she gives me matters. A kiss, a laugh, her youthful body, her smile, her womb, her future.
“I was thinking about the thing we shouldn’t have done,” she whispers.
I sit up and lean against the wall. My neck aches from the earlier position, anyway. She sits up in bed, too, her arms wrapped around her knees, her outline visible in the darkness. Her features are shadowed. Somehow, from the tightness in her body, I feel her pain.
“I know you’re right,” she whispers. “It was wrong.”
I swallow. “It was.”
“But…”
“I want to do it again,” I growl.
She shudders and nods.
I’m on my feet before I let myself think. Sitting on the bed, I draw her into my arms. She collapses against me almost desperately, like she’s been waiting far longer than a few hours for this moment. I kiss her on the lips, giving myself the pleasure of tasting her.
Then she pushes her hands against my chest, gasping, and leans back.
“Can you just hold me?” she says, with that same sense of desperation.
“I shouldn’t…”
“I know.”
We stay silent for a while. Then, without discussing it, I lie on the bed, and she rolls over. She wriggles against me, her back against my chest, my rock-hard dick against her ass. I can’t help that part. My dick isn’t going to be soft when I’m pressed against my woman. Her hormones are talking to me. Her body is so, so ready. I need to distract us.
“What’s your favorite memory of your dad?” I ask.
Somehow, I’m sure I feel her smile. She clutches my hand. “I liked when he’d sit on the porch and clean his pocket watch. You remember the one, right?”
I laugh with the taste of Kay’s lips on my mouth. “Yes.”
“What’s funny?”
“Nothing.”
She goes on after a pause. “Okay, well, he’d spend hours cleaning it. Sometimes, I miss that noise so badly. When I was little, I always heard it when I sat on his lap or hugged him. That ticking noise. He told me to think of it as his heartbeat, but I forgot about that at some point.”
I kiss the back of her head and smell her hair. “He was a good man.”