Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
“What was it?” She hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She would have noticed if she had something on her mouth before now, right?
“Probably dry drool,” Alexei said. “I’ve got some on my top.”
She swirled around to gape at the large man. Was he kidding her?
But, nope, there was a patch of something on his shirt that looked suspiciously like dried drool.
Oh. My. God.
She was so embarrassed right now.
“I drooled on you!” she cried, putting her hands over her face. “Excuse me, I’m going to go back to being a coffee table girl.”
Tamsyn attempted to slide back under the coffee table.
“Oh no, you don’t.” Salem grabbed her and drew her up against his chest. He held her with one arm under her bottom and her legs dangling free.
Yikes.
He was strong.
“Come on. Time for dinner.”
“I have to go wash my face, though.” She attempted to wriggle free.
To her shock, he slapped her ass. “Stay where you are. If you keep moving like that I might drop you.”
“You wouldn’t drop me,” she said.
“No, you’re right. I would never drop you.”
It sounded like a vow.
He carried her into a rather formal-looking dining room and set her down in a wooden chair that matched the long table. She quickly counted fourteen chairs.
Wow.
She wasn’t sure she’d ever sat in a dining room like this.
Large dishes covered in metal lids rested along the side table against the wall.
Roman sat on her left side as both Alexei and Salem got up to fill their plates. She guessed she’d wait until they were done. Alexei probably needed a lot of fuel for his big body.
But when Salem returned, he placed a full plate down.
Right in front of her.
“Um. What’s this?”
“Dinner,” he said.
First of all . . . this dinner looked amazing. There was some sort of beef stew filled with meat and vegetables, mashed potatoes, and garlic bread. The smell was divine.
“Thank you,” she said, feeling slightly awkward. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had served her food. It was probably so long ago she was too young to remember. “I really can’t eat this much, though.”
“Actually, those proportions are pretty on track for someone your size who needs to gain some weight,” Roman said, tapping on his phone. “Would you like me to show you my research?”
He turned the screen around on his phone. Had he . . . had he written a report on it?
“Why were you studying what someone should eat?” she asked. “Did your work ask you to write up a report?”
But that made no sense. Why would MI6 want to know about a woman’s nutritional needs?
Not that she was meant to know that they worked for MI6. Roman had simply told her he was in research. And that Salem and Alexei worked for the government.
“I don’t think we need to talk about this,” Salem said hastily.
“It was nothing to do with work,” Roman said absentmindedly. “I wanted to research how to help you.”
“Help . . . me?” She glanced down at herself. Did she look that bad? Sure, she had trouble sticking to a regular eating schedule. There wasn’t really time in her life to worry about proper nutrition. She ate when she could and she exercised a lot so she burned a lot of calories.
She could feel her shoulders hunching. Tamsyn had never really worried about her appearance. There was no room to worry about her looks when she was simply trying to survive.
But now she was wondering what they saw when they looked at her. Someone scrawny? Too thin? Ugly?
Oh God.
Did they think she was ugly?
“Hey, Tamsyn, look at me.” Salem placed his hand under her chin and tilted her face up. He gave her a firm look. “You are beautiful.”
Shit.
“Did I say that out loud?”
“Yes,” Alexei growled from across the table. He had a plate heaped high with food in front of him. “And I do not like it. You could never be ugly.”
“I’m sorry I made you feel that way, I didn’t mean to,” Roman said, sounding upset.
Shit.
She was messing this all up.
Turning to him, she reached out to grab his hand then stopped herself. “It’s all right. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I made you feel ugly.”
“No. Really. That was all me.” She shook her head. “It’s just . . . you really researched what I should be eating?”
“To make sure you’re healthy,” Salem said firmly. “No other reason. You are so beautiful and amazing. We just want you to be healthy too.”
“I never get sick,” she protested. “I really think I eat fine.”
“Then eat,” Alexei grumbled. “All of us should eat before this gets cold.”
She tried. She really did.
But she felt so self-conscious.
It was ridiculous.
Why should she care what they thought of her? She had never worried about it before.
Urgh.
Awakening emotions could be annoying. It came with all these other things to worry about.