Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 83961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
I had barely made it to my feet when he had already snagged a shirt and had it over his head. Stiffly, I made my way to the bathroom and quickly undressed and threw myself under the spray. I stood under the water until it started to turn cold, grumbling at having to leave my little private sanctuary and having to go back out and face him. It wasn't like me to have an issue facing someone. I stood toe-to-toe with some of the most dangerous men on the East coast on a daily basis. I sparred with them. I taught them how to navigate the dark web. I learned how to shoot from them. I didn't run and hide from any man.
Not anymore.
Hell to the no.
That was not the kind of woman I was.
With a growl at myself, I snatched the towel off the hanger and pulled the shower curtain open. It didn't hit me at first as I carefully started to dry myself off. Nothing struck me as amiss until I was toweling off my leg and glanced up into the room and noticed my clothes were gone. The clothes I kicked off the night before because they were filthy... yeah they were missing. As was the white tee and panties I had stripped out of before my shower. Not only that. Oh, no. As if it wasn't crazy enough that he sneaked in and took my dirty clothes while I was showering, he had also laid out fresh gauze slathered in cream on the counter. So he had been in the bathroom for a good long time while I was naked in the shower. Granted, the curtain was solid and he couldn't see me, but still. That was a gross invasion of privacy.
Seething, I towel dried my hair and finger combed it, brushed my teeth, re-wrapped my arm, then threw on the fresh white tee he had left me, pantie-less because he took mine and I didn't have a spare pair. As if the tee didn't make me feel naked enough to begin with. Dressed, I threw open the door, sucking in a breath, getting ready to leash into him.
"I swear to Christ if you ever, ever sneak into a room where I am..." I trailed off, realizing my anger was falling only on an empty room. Wolf wasn't inside the house.
I walked out, glancing around even though there was literally nowhere he could be hiding except under the bed and, well, he could never fit. Was that why he took my clothes? Did he think he was somehow keeping me there because he stole my pants? Yeah well, he was in for a rude awakening. I stormed over to where my black, beat up and beloved combat boots were sitting beside his front door and shoved my feet inside. I reached for the black and white flannel shirt on a hook and slipped inside it, leaving the front unbuttoned. I looked ridiculous. But I didn't care. I was getting the hell out of there.
I pulled the door open on a huff only to fly backward on a shriek.
Because there outside the door were two beasts from hell.
Okay. So they were actually dogs. But they were like... dogs on steroids. I'd never seen a breed that huge before: all black with face hair that dipped into their eyes. I had a feeling that if I got close enough to gauge such a thing, that when sitting they would still reach almost my shoulder area. They were giant. Giant dogs for a giant man.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm my heartbeat. Alright, so they were big. But there was often something to the phrase "gentle giants". I mean... look at pandas and elephants and like... manatees and shit. They were probably completely harmless. Besides, I loved dogs. They would surely pick up on that, right?
I took a couple tentative steps toward the door again and watched as their heads tilted to the side, watching me, but doing nothing that looked remotely threatening. I felt the tension leaving my body as I gave them a small smile. "Good doggies," I said in a baby voice. "You're not hell beasts at all, are you?" I asked as I stepped over the threshold. The second my foot moved over the line, they both stood, closing ranks, and letting out matching and menacing growls. I jumped back and they stopped. Curious, I stuck my leg out the door again. The growling started up again. I yanked my leg back in and watched them watching me for a moment before they sat back down.
Wolf had guard dogs.
And they were not trained to keep people off his property.
Oh no.
They were trained to keep me on it.
That son of a bitch.
FIVE
Janie
I spent the day seething. First, because leaving the dogs as my prison guards confirmed that he had every intention of keeping me at his place against my will. So him being sweet and taking care of my arm and face and looking all worried after my nightmare, yeah, that was just his attempt to create some kind of Stockholm Syndrome bond with me. Yeah well that jackass was in for a rude awakening. I wasn't falling in love with my freaking captor.
Second, I was pissed because I was going stir-freaking-crazy. I was not the kind of person who could sit and watch mindless television for hours on end. I needed to go outside and go on a run. I needed to shoot something and hit something. And most of all, I needed a freaking laptop, phone, or book to keep my mind from racing.
By midday, I had managed to wear a path in his floor. His hell beasts hadn't moved from their post. I scrounged up some food. I drank another pot of coffee. Night fell. On a growl, I grabbed his pile of magazines and climbed up on the bed with them. I flipped through them, reading the blurbs underneath the gun and hunting gear items. I grimaced through the fishing magazines. Finally, sometime around midnight, still with no appearance or word from Wolf, I drifted into a boredom induced sleep.