Total pages in book: 227
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
“What are you doing?” she whispers, looking up and down the corridor.
“What are you doing?” I force my way in with care, and dip, getting her on my shoulder.
“Brad!”
I turn back around and march to my room, entering and lowering her to her feet. Where the hell do I start? “What happened?” I can’t drop Fury in the shit. Don’t want Pearl to think she can’t trust him. “When you got home, you looked worried.”
“I’m fine.”
I can see her walls coming up like iron, bulletproof shutters, her eyes avoiding mine. Fuck it, I’m not going to get anything out of her. So yes, I can drop Fury in the shit. “You had a panic attack outside the café,” I say.
Her mouth falls open.
“Pearl, those big hairy fuckers that follow you girls around all day are there to make sure you’re all okay. If you’re not, they’re contracted to report it.”
“Contracted?”
“Under threat,” I say. But that’s not the reason he told us. “He shared because he cares, Pearl. You’ve worried him, and now I’m really worried too. What happened, gorgeous?” I detect a definite wobble of her lip, a glaze of her eyes.
“It’s nothing.”
Oh, come on. She’s infuriating. I move into her, my palms resting on her upper arms, my body hunkering to make eye contact. “Tell me.”
She winces, swallows hard. Fucking hell. What the hell did she see? I move to the chair and lower, pulling her down onto my lap, and like a scared, fragile animal, she curls into my body, hiding, arms clinging on around my neck. I needed this. Needed her to trust me, even if only physically.
“Tell me,” I encourage softly, stroking her hair.
“I saw a man,” she whispers, pushing herself farther into me.
“What man?”
She’s quiet for a beat. Finding the courage to share. “A man on a gurney.”
“What?” I ask, confused. “On the street?”
“He was being wheeled to an ambulance. He had a wire in his arm, they were holding up a bag of fluids, and it just . . . triggered something. From the hangar. The line in my arm, the drugs so close to making it into my veins.”
“My love,” I whisper, holding her tighter.
“What if they find me?” she asks, her voice ragged. Her fear is very fucking real.
I’m stiff as a fucking board, my teeth about to pop from the force of my bite. “It’s over,” I grate, willing my body to relax.
“I know.” She frees herself from my chest and finds my face, her eyes scanning mine. I remain still, paralyzed by the need staring back at me.
Purpose.
A man without it is merely a shell with a heartbeat and no soul.
I pull her in for a hug, holding her tight, reinforcing her safety. And with her this close, all the stupid things that have kept me from her seem inconsequential. This whole situation has knocked me on my ass. Come from left field. What’s happening, it can’t be wrong, because it feels too fucking right.
I’ve been waiting for her.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, withdrawing, worried.
I reach for her cheek and stroke it with the back of my finger. “I said we’d do something tonight.”
“Does that mean you can’t?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“I want to take a bath with you.”
She exhales, unsure. “What?”
“A bath.” I stand, placing her down. “With you.”
“I thought you’d . . .” She pauses. “Well, I thought we would—”
“Fuck like rabbits all night?” Fuck me, we can’t because, dumb me, I forgot to pick up some condoms and Doc’s nowhere to be found.
“A bath,” she says, looking at the door into the bathroom. “You want to have a bath.”
“Yeah.”
“With me?”
“With you.” What’s going on? She looks stunned by the suggestion.
“I’m not sure I can.”
The uncertainty I see in her gaze hits me in the gut. She’s not sure? It’s just a bath. “Pearl, you can do anything in the world,” I whisper, directing her backward steps into the bathroom, my face close to hers. I place her on the vanity unit. “I’ve got you.” I kiss the corner of her mouth, lick her lip ring, and inhale her lavender.
“You’ve got me,” she replies, looking like she’s turning that statement over in her mind as she stares at the tub. I leave her on the vanity and flip on the faucets, adding bubbles and lavender, inhaling the potent hit of my favorite scent. I’ll talk to Beau, get her thoughts on this . . . situation. I know she’ll hear me. And threaten me. I don’t plan on hurting Pearl. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen though.
When I face her again, she looks like she’s in a trance. “Look at me,” I order, frowning. Fuck me, that man she saw on the street has hit her hard.
She tears her stare away from the tub.
“I’ve got you,” I say again, moving in, crowding her. “Always.” My eyes flit across her face, blood trickling into my dick as she starts to breathe heavily. Fuck . . . me. I reach for the small gold ring and circle it with the tip of my tongue, ensuring I only touch the metal.