Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 129980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“Baby, you’re crying.” He swung around, stalking back to the bathroom, where the water was running into her small bathtub. “Told you before, don’t want you crying unless you’re in my arms. Cry it out, and then tell me what’s going on so I can fix it.”
She didn’t know what to say or do. How could he fix the wide gap, ever growing, between them? “It’s not like you can suddenly turn into a nerd, Andrii. Or goofy. Or sexless. You’re always going to be you, and I’m always going to be me.” She choked, hiccupped and pressed her wet face against his bare chest. “Even after crazy sex, you smell good. You can’t stop that either.”
“That’s a good thing, Zelie, not a bad thing.” He rested his butt against the sink, holding her close as the water filled the tub. “I don’t think you’d be attracted to me if I was the smelly type.”
“Don’t get me laughing. I don’t want to laugh. This is so bad between us. There isn’t any way to fix it. There’s just no way.”
He set her feet down in the small bathtub. “There’s always a way to fix something, baby. But if you’re worried about the two of us, we’re solid. We’re always going to be solid, even when we run into little hitches.”
His voice was soft, a brush of velvet over her skin. Worse, there were notes in his tone that had goose bumps erupting everywhere. She wanted to curl up into a little ball and weep forever at her lack of confidence. How could a man like Andrii hold her with such tenderness? So gently. So absolutely certain they would make it.
“You don’t understand,” she blurted. “I don’t think it’s possible for you to understand.”
“Despite being ridiculously arrogant, I am intelligent. I can figure it out. Get all the way into the water, Azelie.”
He stripped the robe off her, and she sank down into the hot water obediently, drawing up her knees and gripping them so tightly her knuckles turned white.
“I really don’t like you being so distressed.”
She laid her head on top of her knees. “It’s just that you’re so extraordinary.” She looked up at him, seeing he was shaking his head. “Don’t dismiss what I’m telling you. You are. You have so much experience in so many areas. Anything you choose to do, you’re not just good, you’re amazing at it.”
Her hair was all over the place and she swept it back, annoyed that she hadn’t put it up. The moment she pulled it back from her face, Andrii took over, bunching her thick hair in one fist and deftly twisting it into one of the many silk scrunchies she had on a mini-tower next to her sink.
“You’re even good at putting my hair up.”
“I’m good at reading your distress level. You needed it out of your way. I was close to your hair ties, so I put it up out of the way.”
She glanced at him again. “You’re good at everything.”
“I’m not. I couldn’t write a book if my life depended on it. I can’t make a roomful of senior citizens light up when I walk into a coffee shop. I certainly am not going to take on a couple of little boys or a baby girl. Quite possibly, they’d eat me alive. I have certain skills, but not one of them will lend itself to any of those things.”
She continued to look at him. He meant what he said. He just didn’t get it. “Andrii, I’m falling in love with you. When you open your eyes and realize I’m boring and scared and I’ll never be your match, you’re going to get restless. You may stay with me because you’re loyal. I see that in you. I don’t believe you’re a cheater, but you aren’t going to be happy, and I couldn’t bear that.”
For a moment he looked very upset, and then he crouched down beside the tub, where he could look directly into her eyes. “Azelie, look at me.” He waited until she managed to raise her gaze to his. “You need to hear me. Really hear me. I’ve had countless women in my life. That was part of my training. Even missions I went on involved seduction of a target. I’m not telling you any of my past because I’m proud of it—just the opposite. You need to understand I’m not normal. I’m never going to be normal. I don’t have natural erections as a rule. As in never since I was a teen. Everything in my life has been about control. I didn’t ever feel alive. I went through the motions because I believe in what we do. I’ve experienced trafficking, and more than anything I wanted to be part of an organization to stop it. But I wasn’t living. I didn’t enjoy great food or drink. I didn’t enjoy the women I fucked. It was a release for me, nothing more. Some days, it was damn tough to find a reason to keep going.”