Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 104165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Fuck good communication. We’ll try that later. I just need him to stay with me right now.
His nostrils flare and his face is red.
“You did, don’t say you didn’t,” he barks, then pulls back and looks frustrated as if realizing how much that sounded like an order. He heaves out a pained breath. “I mean, obviously you can say whatever you want. Look, Brooke, this is too fucked up. You’re right to be second-guessing shit. You shouldn’t trust me. I wouldn’t let my sister within ten feet of a fuck like me.”
He reaches out like he wants to cup my face but then doesn’t, dropping his hands instead. And his features twist as he begs, “Run. Brooke, you should have run as far away from me when you had the chance.”
Is he serious? He’s saying this shit right after he collared me and called me his?
But he just keeps on, “You need to get the hell away from me, so you have a chance at normal—”
“I’ll never be normal,” I shout, shoving him in the chest.
He looks down at me, stunned.
“You keep saying I can do whatever I want, but then you want to tell me what to do. You’re such a fucking asshole!”
He nods along with me. “Yes, exactly. I’m an asshole.” Then he clamps his mouth shut as if forcibly trying to make himself not say more. Works for me.
“Yes,” I agree vehemently with him agreeing with me. “And whoever said I wanted normal? I’m not normal. That ship sailed a long time ago. God knows who I might have been if normal had been an option. It wasn’t. This is who I am, whoever the fuck that is. I want to find out with you. I’m just trying to tell you there might be some stops and starts.”
“Oh.” He just nods, sounding a little choked.
“Yeah. Oh,” I say, still on a roll. “And what I want is to go to the club tonight and do a scene. Is it a big deal if I pull a safe word there?”
He switches to shaking his head. “Not at all. I hope you’ll feel even safer there with everyone else around.”
“You idiot.” I dare shoving him on the shoulder. Just a quick touch and then gone again. “I’m not afraid to be alone with you.”
He just stares at me a second. And then he throws his arms around me and squeezes me to his chest. I sink against him and for a second she’s back—that hovering ghost. We both remember this. My body remembers him. It has this whole time. I’ve known him and the heart of the boy that still lives inside the man. Even when he couldn’t remember it, I still could, amnesia or not.
Donny I’ve got to tell you something.
I gasp and pull away from him.
“What?” he asks, concerned. His eyes search my face.
“Nothing,” I say, still a little short of breath. Was that an actual… memory? But now that I try consciously focusing on what I was just thinking, it’s disappeared like a wisp on the wind.
So I smile and wrap my arms around Domhn’s waist. “I can’t wait to see everyone at the club.”
He just shakes his head at me and looks down with eyes so full of affection I could drown in them. “How is your spirit so strong? Fuck I’m so glad you don’t want to leave me because I don’t think I could let you go. I’d chase you to the ends of the earth.”
He pulls me back into his arms and I sink against his chest, loving the strong, sure pound of his heart beating against my ear.
“Good,” I breathe out. “Because you’re stuck with me now.”
THIRTY-TWO
DOMHNALL
I’m still shook after last night.
We spent the day quiet. Snuggling. Watching movies. And getting ready for tonight.
I’ve just parked us at Carnal but suddenly my hands go white-knuckled on the wheel. We’ve been so safe in the protection of the mansion all this time. And I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect day than today.
Brooke was so delighted with everything I bought her. I glance over at her adjusting her outfit and can’t help grinning. She’s adorable in the little cat-eared tiara, nestled at the crown of her long, flowing hair. My collar glitters at her neck. It brings me a deep-down pleasure I can’t explain.
“How does my tail look?” she asks as she opens her door and bends over, lifting her robe with one hand and grinning over her shoulder at me. She waggles her bottom, the furry cat’s tail attached to a butt plug we carefully inserted a little bit ago swishing back and forth.
She’s been quiet all day, but like this, too—bouncy and happy.
My eyes track her swishing tail up to her round little—
Fuck. Now I’m hard.
“You sure you still want to do this?” I ask for the hundredth time.