Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“That sucks.”
“Now I’m soothing egos and trying to get this mess sorted. Meanwhile, we’re running a multi-million-dollar art scheme and any little thing could fuck it up. Gallo could run his mouth and ruin this if he wanted, and I’m not totally convinced he won’t just to piss off Frost.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Here I am, complaining about it to you instead of doing what I really want to be doing, which is breaking knees and slamming skulls into walls until people do what I say. I miss the old days sometimes. When I first started, I didn’t have to worry about playing politics. I only worried about who had more guns.”
“Rough.”
“You’re not listening, are you?”
“Huh.”
“Hellie.” I stand and walk to her. “You’re not listening to me.”
She frowns as if she’s only just realizing I’m there. “I heard you. Gallo got cut out. Frost is an asshole.”
I grunt, head tilted. She’s been strange since I got home earlier tonight, and I can’t figure out why. Short answers, no interest, like she’s trying to keep herself distanced, or like she’s got something else on her mind.
I chalked it up to work on the painting, but that’s not it. She’s barely doing anything, and I can tell her head’s not in it.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Just working. You’re distracting me, you know.”
“You’re done for the day.” I take the paintbrush from her hand and toss it on the floor. It leaves a brown smear as it clatters away.
She looks outraged. “That was the perfect color, asshole!”
“You’ll be fine. Tell me what your deal is.”
“I have no deal.” She gets up from her stool and storms away, grabbing the brush from the floor and putting it back in the can. “Maybe I’m just sick of chatting with my kidnapper about his day. Maybe I don’t want to hear about your feelings.”
“No, I don’t think that’s it.”
“Did you stop to think that maybe I still hate you? And maybe I’m sick of pretending?”
“Nope, definitely not it.”
“You’re such an asshole. How can someone be so arrogant?”
“Because we’ve been through this already and nothing’s changed.” I walk to her, forcing her to back up to the window. It’s a familiar position. One I very much enjoy. “Let’s skip the game and go right to the part where you tell me what’s wrong.”
“Nothing’s wrong.” She lifts her chin defiantly.
She’s lying. I don’t know why, but she’s holding something back. Something is definitely wrong—and I can’t tell if it really is the kidnapping thing, which is frustrating since I thought we were past that by now. If that’s not it, I have no idea why she’d be in this shitty mood.
“Is the painting too difficult?” I ask softly. “We can find something else. The Gardner stuff—”
That pisses her off. “The painting is fine. I can handle the stupid painting.”
“Are you sure?”
“Don’t start questioning me now.” She shoves at me. I knock her hands away and grab her before she can run.
Her mouth opens in a gasp as I pin her to the wall.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
“Nothing’s wrong. You’re pulling my hair.”
“You’re right, I am pulling it. I’m also going to spank your ass pink and raw unless you start talking. What’s the matter?”
“I’m tired, okay? I spent half the day working on my own stuff and half of it working on this forgery, and I’m exhausted. You think I’m some kind of robot, but I’m not.”
I stare at her. My heart’s racing. Her throat bobs as she swallows, and I’m positive she’s lying, but pressing isn’t going to do anything but make her retreat further into more stories.
I decide to change tactics.
“You’re right, you aren’t a robot.” I run a thumb down her lips. “You need to destress. You need a release. You need to be treated like a woman with a body.”
“Erick,” she says, warning. “I’m not in the mood.”
“Liar.” I pull her hair tighter. “I’ll spank you until you’re begging me to fuck you.”
“Can’t we just leave it at I’m not in the mood? Do you really have to keep prying?”
“You’re worth the effort.” I kiss her neck. She lets out a whimper. Yes, she wants this as much as I do, but there’s still something bothering her. “You can tell me. You know that, don’t you? You’re safe here.”
She closes her eyes, breathing fast. “You drugged me. You stole me. I’m just supposed to forget?”
“No. Don’t forget. Think about why I did it and how I’ve been treating you. You know what would’ve happened if I hadn’t been the one to grab you first. Frost and Gallo would’ve come for you no matter what, and your life would be much worse if they’d gotten you first.”
“I know. I know. I just—”
I kiss her chin, her throat. “You just what?”
“It’s a lot. What we’re doing. It’s really a lot.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?”