Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
Her. Hero.
Holy heck.
“Where did you meet your Hero?”
“It’s classified. I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone.” She gave him a worried look.
He blew out a breath. Okay, he had to respect a promise given. “What does he look like?”
“That’s currently unknown.”
Great. Just great. He thought he knew the answer to the next part but decided to ask anyway.
“Name?”
“Also a mystery.” She grimaced.
“Yet you don’t consider him a stalker?”
“No! No, he’s not. He’s protective of me.”
“Right. Jesus.”
“You’re upset. I can now see how strange it is that another man is coming into my house and leaving me gifts. I’m sorry.”
She looked so upset that he couldn’t stand it.
“Hey, stop worrying so much.”
But she either didn’t hear him or was ignoring him.
“I’m so selfish.” She started pacing back and forth.
No. Nope.
“You are not.” He reached out and grabbed her forearm, tugging her around to face him. Then he cupped her face between his hands. “You couldn’t be selfish if you tried. All you do is take care of other people. If your Hero is taking care of you, then that’s a good thing.”
Sure, he wasn’t exactly happy that she hadn’t said anything, but he understood. The Fox had obviously sworn her to secrecy as well.
Sneaky bastard. He looked at all the gifts. Hmm . . .
“He’s courting you.”
“What?” She gave him a puzzled look. “No, he’s not.”
“Why do you say that?”
She nibbled at her thumbnail.
Reaching over, he pulled it free. “Autumn? Why do you think he’s not courting you?”
“We don’t live in eighteenth-century Britain for a start.”
“No, but leaving you gifts, filling your fridge, those things sounds like he likes you and wants to take care of you.”
“But I don’t get why he would . . . not when he knows what happened to me.”
He sucked in a breath. Fudge, sometimes she seemed to be doing so well that he forgot. Well, he didn’t forget exactly. But he pushed it to the back of his mind. Then she let something like this slip out that tore him into pieces.
“I know what happened to you,” he said quietly. “And I’m here, wanting you.”
She stared at him for a long moment.
“Fuck. That probably came out wrong,” he muttered. “I just meant that what happened doesn’t change someone else’s feelings toward you. I mean, it does in some ways, it makes me feel fiercely protective of you. And I don’t . . . I mean, I’m not the most physical of guys—”
She launched herself at him, sending him flying back into the carpet with a groan.
“You know, if you’re going to keep doing this then you need to get a big plush rug,” he told her with a groan.
“Be quiet and kiss me.”
He stared at her in shock. Then he rolled them both onto their sides, praying like hell that she didn’t accidentally knee him in the balls again.
Leaning in, he gently kissed her.
“I said something right?” he asked. “Because I thought it all came out sounding wrong.”
She gave him a small smile. “I got what you meant.” She sat up, staring down at him. “And I appreciate you saying that. But not everyone would feel like you do.”
“He does.” Brody sat up. “Sweetie, he’s interested in you.”
“I don’t know. He’s just being nice.”
Yeah, the Fox wasn’t nice. Leaving her over twenty Christmas presents wasn’t just him being nice.
He wanted to share them.
However, the Fox didn’t always get his way.
Someone just had to be brave enough to tell him that.
Dibs. Not.
“Why are you putting your thumb on your forehead? What don’t you want to do?” she asked.
“Uh, doesn’t matter.”
Dork.
“Are you going to open one of your gifts?”
She stared over at everything, her face sad.
And he immediately felt like an ass. This was something she’d been looking forward to and he had ruined it.
“I don’t think I want to. I might get some more coffee.”
Reaching out, he took hold of her hand. “Open the gifts, sweetheart. Please.”
“I don’t want to upset you. I know I should have told you about him before now. It’s just I pinky-swore not to. But you’re right. This isn’t normal.”
She was starting to hyperventilate.
“Hey, easy. I understand about having things you can’t talk about.”
She eyed him. And he knew he had to tell her about the Fox. But how did he explain that the guy she clearly saw as a protector was, in fact, an assassin for hire?
Screw you, Fox.
This was insane.
She didn’t know the name of the man who left her gifts. Who kept turning up. Who threatened to kill the people who hurt her.
Who called her his and claimed he’d take care of everything.
She just knew how good he made her feel.
“I’ll tell him to stay away,” she whispered.
“I’d pay money to see you tell him that,” Brody said dryly. “But you’re not going to.”
“What?” She blinked at him.
“How does he make you feel, Autumn? When he’s around?”