Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 141255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 706(@200wpm)___ 565(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 706(@200wpm)___ 565(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
He shrugged. “Still early days, man.”
“Yeah. Maybe we should all go. Get the Ferrano family discount.” I rolled my eyes.
He rolled his, then asked, “You need me home, man? You’re dealing with a lot.”
“Naw, it’s all good. I thrive under pressure. You know me.”
“Yeah, I know you. I know that you’ll drown before you lower yourself to ask someone for a life preserver.”
I snickered. “Family trait.”
“Thinkin’ of coming back for a few weeks. While I’m there I can see about lightening your load. Maybe if I make a few appearances it’ll prevent red flags. You getting any bad vibes anywhere?”
“None. And it’s up to you, man. What do you think about goin’ to Thailand for that summit?”
He shook his head. “Dunno, bro. I am not bringing my girl there. No fucking way. I’m also not comfortable leaving her behind. So, I don’t know yet. We’re dealing with a few things here, too, so a trip home might be good. We can talk when I get there.”
“Yeah? Everything alright?”
“Not really.” He shook his head. “I’ll fill you in later. We’ll see what happens in the next few days.”
“Zack and I are meeting day after tomorrow to chat. He’s been doing more digging.”
“Yeah; Ferrano has practically become the guy’s full-time job.”
“He’s good, though. Been a real asset. Well, I’m gonna crash,” I said. “I’ll message you after I meet with him.”
“Sounds good, man. Go chase your angel’s nightmares away.” He gave me a smile.
It looked heartfelt rather than teasing.
Guilt was telling me I should put a stop to this thing with her, that I was putting too much at risk and that I was taking advantage. But I also felt like she was mine already, like it was already said and done. I kept saying I didn’t wanna put myself out there, but I was pretty sure it’d already happened.
I went to crash, but my bed was empty. I panicked a split second but then found her asleep in the living room huddled under a blanket on the sofa. I lifted her and carried her to bed. She woke. I didn’t say anything, just put her in bed, undressed, and then held her. And it took me a long time to fall asleep, but once I did it was because laying there in the dark and holding her close, feeling her breathe, feeling her body heat, running my hands through her hair, feeling her totally soft in my arms, totally trusting, and feeling like she was absolutely 100% mine I’d made a few decisions.
5
I woke up to her beautiful blue eyes on me. She was flush against me; we were facing one another on our sides and her head was on my bicep, chin tipped up to look at me, one hand on my chest, the other around my waist.
“Hey.” I blinked a few times, thinking that waking up like this made me even surer of what I’d decided when I finally closed my eyes last night.
“Hey.” She smiled.
Her eyes were shining. Her hair was wild, it was everywhere, a gorgeous mass of waves spilling all over me and my pillows, all wavy and silky and auburn and copper. I looked closely at her porcelain face and could see the scar from the eyebrow piercing, the faint dot from the nose piercing, the dot above her lip where she had a beauty mark piercing. She had a faint dusting of freckles across her nose. I touched each piercing dot individually. “You’re like a pin cushion.”
She smirked. “Yeah. Real glad I got talked out of those ear spacers.” She widened her eyes and for a split second she reminded me of the girl I saw on the Alaska driver’s license. That girl looked like she’d give anyone the finger.
“What do you like to do for fun?” I asked her.
She whispered, “I like to fuck, Master.”
I snickered. “Other than that.” Her words, her tone, her eyes, made me hard. She was in vixen-mode this morning. I fucking liked it.
She squirmed into me. My hand cupped her bottom.
“I’m serious. What do you wanna do today? I’m blowing off work. Let’s go do something.”
“Whatever you want.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Whatever you–”
“Angel.” I gave her a look and she swallowed, expression dropping, looking afraid.
“I wanna get to know you. You’ve gotta wanna do something after two years there and the last several days locked up in here.”
“I’d like to know you, too,” she said, bright-eyed. “What do you like to do?”
I gave her an exasperated look.
“I don’t know me right now, Dare. The things I used to do for fun…that feels a million years ago. How about we get to know you first? Please?”
“What do you think about therapy? Do you think it might help?”
She shrugged. “I can’t say. I don’t know.”
“Would you be interested in trying? It could help.”