Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
I saw no reason to act shy any longer.
A wave of lust rolled through him. Palpable and distinct. An overwhelming energy that crashed into me.
His chuckle rumbled with a delicious threat. “You are in so much trouble, Little Moonflower.”
“That’s what I like to hear, Burly Bear.”
Otto let go of a low, ardent laugh, and he edged back, thumb tracing the contour of my cheek. “What am I going to do with you?”
“The question should be, ‘What aren’t you going to do to me?’”
He shook his head as he stepped back. The most arrogant smirk had taken to his expression. “Come on, let’s get you downtown before I tie you to my bed so we can start answering that question.”
“Well, now you’re really not helping things.” I shooed him farther away because I needed the man out of my vicinity before I begged him to make good on the idea.
“But I can’t be late…Jimmy is going to be at the store in fifteen minutes. He’s delivering a bunch of irises for a wedding that’s at the lake tomorrow. I have a ton to do to get ready for it. It’s going to be gorgeous.”
I always made sure to get all the arrangements for big events that happened over the weekend done on Friday so it would be all set for when Millie came in on Saturday morning.
I had slung the strap of my purse over my shoulder and had started for the door when a hot hand landed on my wrist and spun me around.
Otto stood there, all the teasing gone, an intensity so profound in his features it rocked the ground beneath my feet.
A clash of conflict and hope and despair.
“That what you want, Raven? You want one of those weddings?”
I looked up at him. Unafraid. “I won’t lie and say that hasn’t been one of my fantasies.”
Then I unwound myself from his hold and sauntered across the room toward the door that led downstairs, and I glanced at him from over my shoulder as I pulled it open.
“Besides, can you imagine what I’d look like in that dress?”
I strode through without looking back.
Deciding it was his turn to fantasize.
“Charleigh!” I shouted as I jogged across the street.
My best friend turned from where she’d been getting ready to pull open the café door with a massive smile on her face.
She was wearing pink scrubs, and her hair was in a ponytail. It was her normal work attire for where she worked at the medical office a few blocks down this same street.
She was shaking her head as she watched me beeline across the road, balancing like an expert on my five-inch heels.
These were killer skills I possessed, and I looked good while doing it, too.
There was no questioning it since I could feel the heat of Otto’s gaze from where he watched me through the plate glass windows of my flower shop. He’d convinced me that he could keep it open while I went to lunch. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do considering he was on guard duty.
No chance of letting me out of his sight.
But it was the way of Sanctum. If they protected strangers the way they did? You could bet that would extend to the ones they loved by a hundredfold.
“You could go for a ten-mile hike in those things, and I bet you wouldn’t even twist an ankle,” Charleigh called as I hopped onto the sidewalk in front of her.
I scoffed with a grin. “Hiking? Do you think I’m some kind of masochist?”
My bestie lifted a wry brow as she swung open the door. “As evidenced by the fact you make Otto carry you on his back every time we take the trail out to the lake.”
“Two birds with one stone and all of that. No hiking and I get my legs wrapped around the man’s waist.”
Unfortunately, it had been from the wrong direction, but I didn’t have that nasty little problem anymore.
“And it sounds like that’s where they’ve been.” She lowered her voice conspiratorially as we stepped into the cool air of the restaurant.
My heart pattered, and I angled my head in her direction. “Things might have changed a little bit since we talked yesterday.”
She started to ask more, but she clipped off when Sienna rounded from behind the coffee counter and came striding our way, welcome on her face. “Hey, Raven. What are you up to?”
I hooked my arm through Charleigh’s. “Having lunch with my bestie. I’ve been wanting to introduce you two. Charleigh, this is Sienna, my new friend I was telling you about. Sienna, meet Charleigh, my brother’s fiancée, even though she was mine first.”
I tacked the biggest pout I could onto the last.
Charleigh laughed, giving my arm a tug. “The two of them love to fight over who met me first.”