Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“All those things, I can handle them. Just trust me,” I told her.
She sighed and looked at my chest. “That is asking too much of you.”
I slid my fingers into her hair and cupped the back of her head, tilting it so that she had no choice but to look at me.
“Mine,” I growled. “All of you. Every fucking piece. I want it all. I’m going to fix everything because I want to take care of you.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “This … this switch in you happened so fast. I don’t understand it, and that makes it hard to trust.”
I caught her tear with my thumb and then kissed it while she watched me. “Perhaps it seemed fast for you, but understand that since the night against your car, I’ve been hooked. I might have fought it, but you were in my head. The more I got to know you, the more I wanted you. Everything I’d assumed about you was wrong. And I’m sorry.” I lowered my mouth and pressed a kiss on each corner of hers. “I will take care of everything. I swear. Just trust me.”
She said nothing for a moment, and I was sure she was going to argue why she couldn’t do that.
“Don’t break me,” she whispered.
Smiling as her words sank in, I claimed her mouth with my own and enjoyed the saltiness from her tears, mixed with her sweetness. The worst part was over. Well, I hoped so. If the day ever came when she discovered all I’d done, it could be … bad.
• Three •
“I am not calling you if I am bored.”
Briar
Standing back, I watched as Storm showed Dovie her new rooms. He was giving her an entire floor to herself. I didn’t need her to respond to know she was excited. Seeing the pure joy in her expression eased some of the anxiety about this decision. In the four years I’d had Dovie, never had I seen her like this. Smiles from her had been few and far between for so long. I just hoped I wasn’t making a mistake. This would be hard to run from if the time came. Dovie had never been spoiled like this. The nice apartments I’d been able to put us in over the years didn’t compare to this. Storm had just given a fairy tale to a teenage girl who had lived through more nightmares than most humans in her short life.
If I wasn’t already in love with him, I would have fallen in this moment.
Dovie turned to me after she spun in a circle in the massive bedroom, complete with a chandelier and her own private balcony overlooking the backyard. She was beaming so brightly, and I felt my eyes prick from the emotion of this moment.
“Anything you want to change, including furniture, we can go shopping. I want this to be yours and to be exactly what you want,” Storm told her, standing just inside the door with his arms crossed over his chest, looking real damn pleased with himself.
“It’s perfect,” she signed, then walked over to the French doors that opened to her personal balcony.
“She said it’s perfect,” I told him.
He narrowed his eyes. “There has to be something she wants to change.”
I shook my head. “This is more than anything she could have dreamed up in her wildest imagination.”
His arms dropped to his sides, and he moved toward me. “And you? What about you?”
I shrugged. “It’ll do,” I teased.
One of his large hands grabbed me just below my waist and tugged me against him. “It’ll do?”
I nodded, smiling up at him. “I’ll manage.”
His eyes dropped to my mouth. “I guess I’ll just have to try harder. Tell me what it is you want. We’ll go get it now. Change whatever the fuck you want to.”
The man was serious.
I reached up and placed my palm on his stubbly jawline. “It’s perfect.”
His nostrils flared, and he let out an almost-silent groan, then dropped his hand from my waist and stepped away just as Dovie walked back into the room. Her eyes met mine, and she gave me a smirk, having caught us embracing. I’d never let her around the men in my life. None of them could be trusted. This was new for both of us. I was trusting Storm with so much. Not just with me, but with Dovie too.
“Your things will be brought in soon. Why don’t you make me a grocery list of things you both want to eat, and I’ll get those ordered?” Storm said to both of us.
“Order them? I can go to the grocery store for us. It’ll be cheaper,” I told him.
He shook his head. “No. Until I have some things handled, I don’t want you out in public.”
Right. Jameson and whoever had shot at us. How could he handle that when he didn’t even know who he was looking for?