Things We Burn Read Online Anne Malcom

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Sports, Virgin Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 154728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
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I’d thought the air in the room was tense before, but it suddenly seemed to throb with ferocity.

Kane’s eyes bore into me. They were no longer blank but bulging with rage.

“My pregnant woman carried this shit up stairs alone.” He shook his head, muttering seemingly to himself.

My heart rate increased tenfold. “I mean, y-yeah,” I stuttered. “But it’s not like it’s that heavy. I’ve spent my life carrying sacks of potatoes around restaurants and boxes of oysters through Manhattan.”

His gaze was piercing. “You weren’t carrying my child then.”

The tiny hairs on the back of my neck rose. There it was. Even more menace. But also something else. Something I kind of liked despite the situation.

Possession.

My woman. My child.

But there was still distance between us. A coldness that rivaled the arctic in temperature.

My hand went back to my stomach. “She’s fine, I just had a checkup,” I reassured him.

Or at least I was attempting to reassure him.

He went stock-still. “Sh-she?” he clasped the back of his neck. “It’s a girl?” His eyes were on my stomach again. Yet his gaze was softer, reverent. Full of despair.

I sucked in a breath of air that felt like broken glass. “Yeah, I’m, um, not into surprises, or intense gender reveals. I like having a plan.”

Not that knowing the gender helped my plan any. All it did was veer me away from onesies with trucks and dinosaurs on them. Not that I was overly bothered with dressing an infant in anything frilly and pink. I’d gone with muted tones that had good quality fabric and reputable reviews. No frilly dresses or clothing without zippers. I suspected I was in for a challenge merely putting on a diaper.

“A girl,” he said again in little more than a whisper.

The despair in his voice made my heart ache.

His shoulders slumped as he rubbed a hand over his jaw. I’d never seen Kane like this. Never seen him so cold, unfeeling. And I’d never seen him look so … defeated.

It was killing me. Because I was the cause of it. I wanted to go to him, wanted to comfort him, but there was a barrier between us. Invisible, but miles high and just as wide. Impenetrable.

More silence hung around us.

I didn’t have anything left in me to try to fill it. I just stood there, leaning against the doorway, staring at the spot above Kane’s head because I couldn’t bear to look at him.

“I’m staying,” he declared, breaking the tense hush.

I sagged in relief at him breaking the uncomfortable silence.

I nodded even though I was kind of surprised. Though I shouldn’t have been. It was getting late, the storm was raging outside, and he was on a motorcycle. There were some hotels around, though that was likely too public for him. Where did I expect him to go after finding me here, pregnant?

Run. Maybe I expected him to run. Leave. Even if everything I knew about him told me Kane would never do that to me. Except I’d constructed a new version of Kane in my mind, the one Brax had born that day at his office, one that I’d let him poison my other version of Kane with.

“The sofa, it pulls out,” I said, trying to find my bearings. This house was too small for a guest room. The upstairs had a large master with a bathroom, the nursery, another bathroom and a small linen closet. Downstairs was the living area, kitchen, bathroom and sun room. I’d liked that it wasn’t big. I wasn’t expecting visitors beyond Kiera, who made sure to get a top-of-the-line pullout even though she also scouted the best hotel in town. “I’ll get some sheets.”

“I’m not stayin’ on the fuckin’ sofa.”

I paused at his tone, staring back at him. “You’re not?”

“Avery, I got out of prison eleven hours ago. I haven’t slept on a mattress thicker than a thin pillow for months. I haven’t slept with my woman for months. I’m pissed as fuck with you right now, but there’s no way I’m spendin’ another goddamn night in a bed without you.”

My knees were quaking, my mouth went dry, and my heart beat rapidly. Not from fear or despair. No, now it held hope. He called me his woman again. He might’ve still been looking at me with that horrible emptiness, but he was calling me his woman. He wanted to sleep in bed with me. I would no longer toss around a cold bed without the presence of the man I’d yearned for.

Even though that was what I’d hoped for, dreamed of, I hastened to erect a barrier of my own. One to protect myself. “Don’t I get any kind of say in this?” There should’ve been some kind of bite to my voice. I’d intended to add bite. But the words came out small and hesitant instead.



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