Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 46081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
“You were adopted?”
Frost’s voice pulled her out of the swirling vortex of questions that had been plaguing her since she found out she had a living blood relative. “Oh, uh, yeah. Eventually.” When had he stretched his arm along the back of the booth? And why did she want to snuggle up under it rather than run like she usually wanted?
He frowned. “Were they good to you?”
“What? Who?” She had to get her brain in the game or they’d think she was nuts.
“The people who adopted you.”
“Oh. Yeah, they were good. I didn’t spend too many years with them since I was adopted at fourteen.”
Frost’s frown deepened. It gave her the urge to reach out and rub a finger over his downturned lips. Would they be soft? They looked it. And kissable. God, it’d been so long since she kissed anyone. And it’d been okay. One of the consequences of choosing passive, less outgoing men was they often didn’t want to take the lead in bed. Rachel wasn’t naturally aggressive. In fact, most of her fantasies revolved around a man throwing her up against the wall and taking her with the kind of rough passion she’d never experienced. She wanted to know what if felt like to be with a man who had to have her and damn the rest of the world. In her fantasies, she loved it. In reality, if a man pressed her against the wall, she’d lose her mind in a different way.
In a panicked, frightened, pitiful way.
“Where were you before that? With your mom?”
In hell.
There wasn’t anything she hated more than talking about the years before she was adopted, but Frost’s eyes shone with compassion. He seemed almost agitated. She flicked a glance at Curly, who’d set down the papers and was watching her as well.
“No, my mom was arrested for drugs and prostitution when I was three. I was in different foster homes and a few orphanages until I was adopted.”
“Shit. I’m sorry. Had I known…”
She shook her head. “Curly, no. Don’t be ridiculous. You weren’t even aware I existed, and you were dealing with your own challenges.” She almost slapped her forehead. How could she be so insensitive as to call his decade of wrongful imprisonment a mere challenge?
But Curly didn’t seem upset. He shook his head. “Still, I wish I’d have known. Would have been nice to have a sibling all these years.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “It would have been.” Maybe if she’d had a brother, a big, scary, biker brother, certain things would have never happened.
They smiled at each other, and she felt it. The warmth of a connection. He was her brother. Her family.
“Was it awful?”
“What?”
Frost still stared down at her with an unnatural intensity in his expression. It had her stomach twisting. Or maybe it was merely the question, grating right over her most exposed nerve endings.
“You mean being in foster care?”
He nodded.
“Oh.” She waved the question away even as she wanted to dive under the table and curl into a ball. “Nah, it was fine. Some better than others, but, uh… nothing like the nightmares you hear from some people.”
Lies.
Not a single muscle so much as twitched on his face. “You’re lying.”
She gasped. “Excuse me?”
“Someone hurt you.”
Her gaze ping-ponged between Curly and Frost. “What do you mean? No. I’m fine.” She laughed a nervous sound that probably didn’t fool either man.
“It’s why you were scared at the clubhouse. What happened?”
There it was, the panic she’d been expecting from being in these men’s presence. But this time, she wasn’t afraid of being hurt by a man but of the wounds from the past, still raw and unhealed bursting wide open.
“Frost,” Curly said in a commanding tone. “Step outside and call Jinx. He and Spec had some business this morning. I need to know how it went.”
If looks could kill, Curly would be a pile of ash on that seat. Frost didn’t say anything as she was coming to expect of him. He’d spoken to her but seemed quiet around others.
“Now, prospect.”
With a huff and a shake of his head, Frost climbed out of the booth and strode toward the exit. He stayed close to the building as he made his call, drawing Rachel’s gaze despite her better judgment.”
“Rach?” Curly asked. “Is it okay if I call you that?”
She looked at her big brother.
Wow. I have a big brother.
“Yes. Actually, that’s great. My best friend calls me Rach.”
“I want to thank you,” he said, reaching for her hands across the table. “For coming to find me. I don’t know how long you plan to stay or when you need to return home, but you’re welcome to stay here as long as you’d like. My ol’ lady and I have a guest room you’re welcome to, or we could put you up in an apartment on Handlers’ property.”