Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
I sit on the couch with Elodie cuddled close. Kaiser takes a lounge chair and scowls at the TV.
“What is this shit?” He points to the screen, where a hardworking CEO has come back home to the small town of Hollydale to save her family’s Christmas inn.
Elodie tenses. “It’s a movie.”
Kaiser speaks over her head to me. “There’s a game on.” He reaches for the remote.
“No,” Elodie growls.
“I want to watch this,” I say, so they won’t fight. On-screen, the heroine’s childhood sweetheart shows up just in time to save her when she slips on a patch of ice. They stand up under some hanging mistletoe.
Kaiser mutters under his breath but keeps watching.
Ten minutes later, when the heroine’s fiancé shows up to drag her back to the big city: “He’s a tool. She can do better.”
Elodie’s eyes go wide, but I give her a squeeze and say, “I agree. Never trust a guy in a black turtleneck sweater.”
Elodie slips out of my grasp. “I’m getting popcorn.”
Twenty minutes later, Kaiser leans forward, crunching a giant handful of popcorn. “This is stupid,” he says, eyes fixed on the screen. “She’s not in love with him.”
“She has to go back. Someone has to run her company,” Elodie argues, her eyes twinkling.
“It wasn’t making her happy. She should just stay, marry the handyman, and run the inn.”
I fall asleep, listening to my two favorite people in the world bicker about a silly movie. This is my life now. My family. Everything I longed for as a child but never thought I could have. All it took was the love of a woman brave enough to stay by my side.
Later, when I wake up, they’re watching the movie with the widow and the long-lost prince.
Elodie
The first night back at home, I feel like I should give Jaeger space by sleeping on the couch, but he insists I stay next to him in the bed. He wakes when I try to slip away.
“No.” He grabs my wrist and pulls me close.
I resist, keeping my distance so I don’t jostle him. “Jaeger, you were shot.”
“I’m not dead.” He’s still strong enough to muscle me down, although I give in quickly because I don’t want him to open his wounds. But then he sets my hand on his crotch.
“Oh my gods,” I mutter because he’s hard as a rock.
“You can nurse me back to health.”
I protest, but he pushes down his sweatpants and fists his hands in my hair, guiding me down. “Suck me.”
I nuzzle his cock, taking in his salty scent. I’ll never tell him, but it’s reassuring to have him manhandle me like this. Every time he tugs my hair, I get wet. “This can’t be good for you.”
“Atticus approved. I already asked.”
“Of course you did.” I roll my eyes and open my mouth for him. I try to do most of the work, but he bucks his hips, filling me with his taste and scent. He doesn’t force himself down my throat, but he guides my head in the proper rhythm until his cock swells.
“Swallow,” he orders, and I do. I lick my lips and let him pull me back up so he can kiss me.
He rests a hand around my throat. I’ve kept the black ribbon tied where he put it. “Soon, this will be a collar,” he says.
I swallow, my throat muscles working against his palm, but I don’t deny it. I’ve chosen Jaeger, and now he chooses for me. It’s blissful, this surrender.
He slips his free hand between my legs and starts to toy with me. He can feel how wet I am. “You’ll like it. You like being my woman.”
He waits for me to answer, and when I don’t, he stops touching me until I say, “Yes.”
“Good bunny.” His fingers tighten around my throat, and I only get wetter. I shut my eyes and let him tease me higher. “As soon as I’m healed, I’ll claim you.”
I suck in a breath, and he rubs me harder. “You don’t need to worry. Give all that to me. You don’t have to shoulder it anymore. You’ll let me lead.” I squirm, but he’s got me pinned between the hand at my throat and the fingers in my cunt. My world narrows to those two points.
“You will be my chosen.” His breath warms my cheek. “I can’t wait to see you on your knees, in front of my brothers, accepting my collar.” His cruel fingers twist inside me, and I whimper. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? To be safe. To be mine forever.”
My sex tightens under his touch, and I spiral higher. I reach for him, needing something to hold onto. This violent, dangerous man is my safe space. I slip my hand under his shirt, and my fingers find the rough edges of his brand, the skull burned into his back. For some reason, the long-healed scar soothes me.