Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Should he do a double knot?
He didn’t want the laces coming free and her tripping over them.
Yes, he better do a double knot.
“They’re cute?” he asked as he finished. Right, now he needed something to clean her hands with and bandage them up.
“Well, yes. But they’re also small.”
He frowned slightly. “Is there something wrong with being small?”
“I guess not. But when you’re small, people tend to call you cute.”
Ahh. So this was a height issue.
He understood it now.
Well, not really. But he should acknowledge and respect her feelings.
“I’m sorry for calling you cute,” he told her sincerely. “I won’t do it again.”
“Well, you don’t have to go that far.”
“Umm.” He was confused. “I thought the point of this conversation was that you didn’t want me to call you cute?”
“I guess it was. Only now I have FOMO.”
“You have FOMO?” he queried.
“Yeah. Do you not know that one? Fear Of Missing Out.”
“You fear that you’re going to miss out being called cute?” he asked, trying to get this straight in his head.
Her shoulders slumped with a sad sigh. “Yeah. Is that ridiculous?”
Just a bit.
But it made him smile.
“You’re laughing at me,” she accused.
“I would never laugh at you, Tamsyn.”
“Wow, when you say my name, it sounds so nice.”
“You don’t like your name?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I never really have. But I like when you say it.”
“Good. Now, we need to find somewhere to wash your wounds and a first aid kit.” Should he offer to take her to his place? It was about ten minutes’ walk away. Would that be too much for her to walk?
Salem wouldn’t like him bringing a stranger home. But it was his house.
“I have a first aid kit,” she told him. “In the front pocket of my backpack.”
Well. There went his plans to act as a knight in shining armor.
Quite disappointing, really.
“Rome? Are you having another epiphany?” she asked.
“Uh, no. Just daydreaming. I do that a lot.”
“Must be nice.” Her voice sounded wistful.
“You don’t daydream?” he asked as he drew out the first aid kit. Good, there were some antiseptic wipes. He decided to do her knee first.
“I don’t dream.”
She didn’t dream? What did she mean? Literally or figuratively?
“You don’t dream?” he asked as he started to wipe her knee, careful not to touch her skin. Her foot suddenly kicked out and he had to duck to the side to avoid it.
That was a close call.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to nearly kick you. It’s just that my knee is ticklish.”
“The front of your knee is ticklish?” he asked her, taking hold of her leg this time as he wiped it clean.
“Uh-huh.”
“Hmm, never heard of that before.” He held her other foot as he wiped that clean.
“It is, you know. Very ticklish.”
“I’ll remember that.”
Like you’re going to see her again. That was a stupid thing to say. And even if you did happen to see her again, you’d hardly be touching her knee, would you?
You likely wouldn’t touch her at all.
“Um, show me your palm, please,” he said quickly.
“No.”
“What?”
“I don’t wanna.”
She didn’t wanna? He watched in amazement as she shuffled forward so she could hide her hands behind her back.
There was a stubborn look on her face that he thought was cute. Although he wasn’t going to tell her that.
And not because she didn’t want to hear that she was cute. But because he didn’t want her thinking that he condoned this sort of naughtiness.
He didn’t know why but there was something about her that intrigued him. That called to a part of himself that he hadn’t been entirely sure truly existed. That only came out when he was reading Daddy Dom romances.
He felt the urge to both coddle and protect this woman. It was bizarre. He didn’t even know her.
Although he did know it wouldn’t take much for her to wrap him around her little finger. Especially when her lip started to wobble as he demanded her hands again.
And he was done. He’d just caved like a stack of cards.
“Love, you need to let me see your hands.”
“I think they’re really fine.”
“Why don’t you want me to touch them? Do you think I’ll hurt them? I’ll try really hard not to, okay?”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Sorry. I, uh . . . sheesh. I don’t know why I just did that. It’s not like I’m not used to pain. I can take a beating from a man twice my size, but I can’t even handle some antiseptic on my hands. WAW.”
“What?”
Had she really just said what he thought she had? Shock filled him, making him freeze.
“Oh sorry. I forget not everyone knows what I’m saying. WAW is What A Wimp. It’s actually one of my favorites.”
“No, I wasn’t talking about that. Although, you’re right, that is a good one. You said that you can take a beating from a man twice your size but can’t handle antiseptic.”