Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 125465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
I wish I could call him. If only to hear his voice. It might give me a bit more courage.
Ren slams a cabinet door, and I jump, teeth gritted. Something has to cool his rage before he tears the entire cabin apart. I stiffen my spine—he needs me, and I can’t let him down. I can’t afford to be a coward now.
Still, the best I can do is tiptoe back into the living room. He’s standing at the counter, his back to me, hands gripping the edge.
His back and shoulders heave dangerously, his head hanging low.
“What happened?” I whisper, arms wrapped around my trembling body.
At first, he only breathes heavier than before. Louder. “Everything’s fucked, that’s what,” he finally growls. The sound of it makes every hair on my body stand on end. Whatever happened must’ve been brutal.
“It doesn’t have to be. We can make it right. I know we can.”
My heart sinks when he snorts. “You would say that. It’s easy to when you don’t have the first fucking clue.”
I don’t have a clue? As if I haven’t been in the thick of things with him for weeks. As if I haven’t suffered right along with him, hurting because he’s in pain, running for my life from a bunch of nutjobs with a collection of guns that almost made me pee my pants.
He’s so far away from me. It wouldn’t feel right to announce the baby now, with all this stress and animosity in the air and a broken chair on the floor. I need to bring him back around first.
Only one thing comes to mind, something that always does the trick. That brings us back together.
“I was going to take a shower,” I murmur, watching him closely to gauge his reaction. “Do you want to join me? It might relax you.”
He keeps me waiting longer than usual—who am I kidding? I usually don’t have to wait at all. Normally, he’d already be in the bathroom with a trail of clothes strewn behind him. Since when is he not jumping at the offer?
“Yeah.” It’s a deep grunt. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
My heart’s not really in it right now, not with him the way he is, but it’s a means to an end. And it isn’t like I don’t look forward to any chance of being close to him. If it means shaking him out of what he’s suffering through, all the better. The shower’s running warm by the time he joins me, watching as I step into the tub and pull the curtain closed.
Please, let this work.
I want so much to tell him about the baby. I want him to be happy. By the time he opens the curtain, I’m under the showerhead, running my fingers through my hair as water runs over it.
The familiar look of lust comes over his face, making his nostrils flare and his lips curve in a pleased little grin. “No wonder he’s so obsessed with you,” he murmurs almost too quietly for me to hear—and even then, I couldn’t have heard him right with the water running over my head.
“Come on in before we run out of hot water.” I hold out a hand, and he takes it, stepping into the big tub and drawing the curtain closed. Instead of trading places with me so he can wet himself down, he runs his hands over my sides and draws me closer, my wet body against his dry chest.
“You look good enough to eat.” His hands slide over my skin, almost rough, possessively. That energy is still bubbling in him, I guess.
He’s feeling demanding, full of anger and frustration, and I don’t know what else. He would never tell me, would he? Unless we’re talking about us, or our relationship, he’s not much on discussing his feelings.
“You can eat me once I’m nice and clean for you.” I offer a suggestive wink, reaching around him to grab a washcloth.
The closing of his hand around my wrist brings me up short, my eyes going wide while he looms over me. “I have a better idea.”
Ren is looking at me, but it doesn’t appear as if he sees me.
My heart skips a beat. “What did you have in mind?”
He lowers my arm before wrapping my hand around his erect dick.
“Does this give you a clue?” My touch makes him groan before he closes his eyes and allows his head to fall back a little.
Good. Let this override everything else. Let him focus on the way he feels and how I make him feel. It will snap him out of his rage.
I stroke him slowly, teasingly, the warm spray running between our bodies. Even my conflicted feelings and the disappointment of not feeling free to blurt out my happy news aren’t enough to keep my body from responding to his excitement. To what I’m capable of doing to him.