Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 78732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
"You can't be serious," Kaylee says, her face nearly touching the front windshield of the SUV, as she looks at the property when we pull up to the private gate.
I don't bother shielding my keycode as I type it in because she isn't paying me any attention.
The gate swings open, and I drive further onto the property, waiting just inside for the gate to secure itself again, before pulling into the garage.
Despite her complaining about the things I packed for her, she brought all of them with us, and more than once that lingerie I brought as a hopeful joke slithered into my mind like a snake looking for prey. I found it impossible to think of anything else unless I focused on that bastard who had the damn nerve to knock on her door and scare the shit out of her earlier. I'll deal with Edmon at a later time. I just need her safe and comfortable before I track him down and teach him some fucking manners.
"Let me take that for you," I say when she climbs out of the passenger seat with the bag clutched in her hand.
Thankfully, she hands it over without argument.
"You live here?"
"I do," I answer, before we leave the detached garage. "My team lives here."
"Team?" she whispers, but I don't know how to answer that without giving her too much.
I stop just outside of the garage, the heat from the day swirling all around us, despite the sun having set half an hour ago.
"I'm not keeping things from you because I want to, but there are some things I can't discuss. I don't want you to think that it's anything personal."
I watch as she chews the inside of her right cheek, as if she's mulling over the information and trying to decide if she's going to accept it or not.
"Okay," she says after a long pause.
"Okay," I repeat, turning around and pressing my hand to her lower back to urge her forward. "There are a lot of public spaces around the house, and instead of giving you a two-hour tour, I'll say that if the door is locked, you probably shouldn't try to find a way inside."
"Should I be worried about anyone else who lives here?"
I turn to face her, bending my head down until her eyes lock onto mine.
"You are a thousand percent safe here. The men inside these walls would die before they ever hurt you in any way. I swear."
She dips her head, accepting me at my word, and it makes a spark of something flare inside my chest. It's as if her trusting me means more somehow.
"What happens if Dima or his men show up here?" she whispers, and this tone comes laced with the fear she had earlier before we left the hotel.
"There's nothing that Dima can find that would lead his men back here, and I took all those turns in order to make sure that no one was following us. I promise, Kaylee. As long as you're on this property, you're safe."
Her eyes search mine for just a moment longer, but then I see acceptance in her eyes, and her body loses some of the tension she's been holding between her shoulder blades.
"Safe," she whispers, her eyes searching mine. "Mostly."
I almost open my mouth and ask her if she's worried about her heart, but the woman doesn't want to be tangled up in any of this. There's no threat to her heart. I don't register with her in that way, and I need to accept it and let go of whatever this little obsession is that's been building inside of me since I met her at the grocery store.
"Want me to show you around?" I ask, taking a step back. "There are a couple pools, a bowling alley, a small arcade. There's a sauna, and a couple of hot tubs. I think there's more, but I haven't spent a lot of time looking around the place yet. Like I said before, we haven't been here very long. There's also a—"
My words die off when a door on the far side of the room opens.
"Hi," Rooster says as he walks out of the conference room we plan to use for team meetings. "I'm Robert but you can call me Rooster."
I narrow my eyes at the man as he quickly approaches with a wide smile, his hand out to her.
"You must be Kaylee."
"I am," she says, her relaxed demeanor making me wonder what it was about me that made her so surly at the store that first night we met, and how easily it contrasts her attitude in meeting him. "Lovely to meet you."
"I have to say," Rooster says while still holding her hand. "I can see why Heathen married you the first chance he got."
Her chuckle is the only sign that she's uncomfortable.