Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 153571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 768(@200wpm)___ 614(@250wpm)___ 512(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 768(@200wpm)___ 614(@250wpm)___ 512(@300wpm)
"I'm not leaving you here."
"You are leaving me here." He presses his forehead to mine and splays his hand across my abdomen, which instantly makes tears spring to my eyes. "You're pregnant, Mila. You gotta go."
"That's why I can't go," I whisper, sniffling when tears start slipping down my cheeks. "If I go, you'll do something stupid, and I'll never see you again." The thought of never seeing him again is like acid burning through me. It fucking hurts. I can't lose him. I won't survive it.
"Baby," he says softly, pulling me into his arms when a sob gets caught in my throat, choking me.
I don't want to hug him right now. I want to be mad and yell at him and demand that he come with me to Sacramento and let someone else be the hero for once in his life, but when his arms are around me, his heart hammering against my ear, I cling to him anyway.
"We need you," I cry into his shoulder. "I can't raise a baby without you." I don't even know if the baby is okay. All the doctor could tell us was that it was too early to tell if being inside the fire harmed the baby at all and that I was not far enough along for them to make any promises but that everything looked okay.
If I lose Roman and something happens to our baby…what am I going to do? How am I supposed to survive losing them both?
"Mila, calm down," he murmurs, lifting me up in his arms and then sliding down the wall until he's on his ass on the floor, and I'm curled up on his lap, completely surrounded by him again. He holds me tightly, rocking me back and forth in his arms and whispering to me.
I cling to him and cry until my head hurts and there aren't any tears left. I'm overwhelmed and scared and so fucking tired. I let it all out, purging myself of the last fourteen hours of my life. When I fall silent in his arms, he tips my face back with gentle hands and swipes beneath my eyes. The emotion in his hazel eyes takes my breath away.
It's fierce and hot but so fucking gentle at the same time.
"Promise me," I plead, clenching my hands into his shirt until my fingers ache in protest. "Promise me that you're not going to do something stupid. I need you, Roman. If something happens to you…if I lose you…" My voice trails off, ending when a pained whimper climbs up my throat. I press myself closer to him, trying to crawl inside him so he can't leave me.
"I swear to you," he whispers, holding me just as tightly, crushing me to his chest. "I'm not going to let anything happen to me, baby. Nothing will take me away from you, our baby, or Tahani, I promise you that." The iron in his voice and his lips on my crown seal his promise to me…but I still don't want to let him go.
Until today, the dangers of his job weren't real to me. I didn't really understand violence because it's never been a part of my life. But I get it now. Trying to crawl out of that fire, terrified out of my mind, I understood completely what he's been so afraid of for so long.
There are terrible people in this world. They murder and terrorize and destroy and take just because they think they can. And people like Roman—the warriors and the cops and the good guys of the world—hold the line, defending and protecting us because someone has to do it. Because guys like Guerrero don't deserve to win.
I don't want Roman to go, but this is who he is. This is what he does…and I didn't just fall for part of him. I fell for every part of him.
I have to let him go.
"I'll go," I whisper, pressing my face into his throat and breathing him in. I want to hold him in my lungs so when I'm no longer pressed up against him, he's still with me. He won't have a chance to stop breathing because I'll be breathing for him. Until he's in my arms again, my air is his.
He tips my face up to his and touches his forehead to mine. "I love you."
"I love you too," I whisper against his lips.
We stay there, just like that, until a sharp knock sounds on the door to my room.
I jump at the sound and cower into his broad chest.
The door swings open, and a guy I don't know walks in. He's not as big as Roman but appears every bit as dangerous. His body is just as hard, just as solid. He moves quietly but with purpose, as he steps into the room. Roman reminds me of a big, wild animal, and so does this man. Except if Roman is a deadly bear, this man is a panther. With ebony skin, crew-cut hair, and deep brown eyes, he's just as beautiful as Roman, dark to his light. His nose is crooked like it's been broken recently.