Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Sure I can. I just did. And I always keep my promises.”
Sofia couldn’t stop the eye roll. So arrogant.
Colm tapped her nose. “Stop that, brat. Now, the first step for me to ensure everything will be all right is getting you to eat.”
“I eat,” she protested before he put another forkful of omelet to her lips.
Now she had to take it, didn’t she?
He gave her a look of approval as she ate the piece of omelet. “Good girl.”
Yikes.
Why did those words make her insides sizzle? And, at the same time, they made her feel more at ease.
Soothed.
It was bizarre. But Sofia wanted to hear him praise her again, so she ate several more mouthfuls until she couldn’t eat anymore.
He sighed as he looked at the plate. “Well, I guess it will have to do.”
Sofia hunched her shoulders. Great. Rather than make him proud of her, she’d annoyed him.
Disappointed him.
“Whoa. Hey, look at me, Mo leannan,” he said in his soft drawl. “What’s the matter? Why do you look like I ran over your cat?”
She gasped. “I’d look much worse if you ran over my cat.”
“Sofia, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Uh-uh, that’s not the way things are going to go between us anymore. You are going to talk to me.”
“I need the bathroom.”
“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on in that head of yours,” he stated.
She glared up at him. But his face didn’t change. He didn’t even flinch.
Damn him.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to disappoint you!” she blurted out quickly.
A look of confusion filled his face before he looked at the plate. “Ahh, baby, we’ve got some work to do on our communication, yeah? And the way you jump to conclusions. You need to tell me if you’re upset, not try to hide it.”
He was talking like they were in a relationship.
“Colm, I can’t—”
“We’re not discussing the future right now. I don’t need to hear all the reasons why you think this won’t work.”
Lord.
He was hard work sometimes.
“But you in no way disappointed me. You could never disappoint me.”
“I would never say never,” she told him. “I’m sure if you give me enough time, I can disappoint you.”
“Sofia, not true. As long as you don’t betray me or give up on me or yourself, we’re good, baby.”
She sucked in a breath. “I’ll try not to.”
“As long as you’re fighting, baby. I’ll fight with you. Alongside you.”
“Alongside me, huh?” She raised an eyebrow in surprise.
He grinned. “Maybe in front of you. Are you sure you don’t want anything more?”
“More coffee.”
“You can have more coffee when you’re up and dressed. How is your back? Do you need some more painkillers? Does it feel worse after sleeping while sitting up all night?”
“It’s fine,” she said. Then, his words fully penetrated the haze of her brain this morning. “Wait. All night? How do you know I sat up all night?”
“Because I sat up with you.” He gestured to the chair he was sitting on.
“You sat there all night?” she asked, gaping at him. “Why?”
“I wasn’t going to leave you, lass. You were in pain. You couldn’t really move. And you kept having bad dreams. You’d start frowning, then when I touched you, you’d relax.”
What? Had she said anything in her sleep?
“Did I say anything in my sleep?”
He gave her a curious look. “No, lass, you didn’t say anything.” He sat forward, his elbows resting on his legs. “I thought the nightmares were due to what you just went through, but they could have been dreams from your childhood, I guess.”
She nodded. “About Gerard Callahan’s death. What if I was there? What if I did see it?”
“You can’t remember what you dreamed about?”
“No. Sometimes I don’t remember. I just wake up feeling groggy and tired with this lingering sense of . . . fear.”
“We’ll figure this out, all right? But you really do need to keep this quiet. Step Callahan is desperate to find out who offed his old man.”
“Why? I mean, I guess anyone would want to know who killed their dad, but it’s been so long . . .”
“My guess is that he wants to use it as an excuse to strike against us. He thinks Rogan’s father did it. Thing is, Step has ties with a cartel, and I think he believes that will keep him safe. Maybe that they’ll even come in to bat for him. I don’t know.”
“So if he found out that I was there . . .”
“He’s been warned against striking against women and children. However, I’m not going to take a risk with you. Understand? You’ve never told anyone else about the dreams?”
“No. No one.”
“Good. That’s good, Mo leannan.”
Damn it.
When he called her that, it made her insides melt.
Kind of crazy when she didn’t even know what the words meant.
“Lately, my dreams have become clearer, but I’m still not fully sure what it all means.”