Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“He’s on his way to the airport,” I told Miko. “Said the girls are sad. This kind of… really works out.”
“Good,” Miko said, nodding. “That’s one less thing to worry about.”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine there myself.”
“The fuck you will,” Miko said, making me look up from my text.
“What?”
“You’re not staying there. No fucking way. It’s not safe.”
“Miko, I’m a grown-ass woman. I can stay in my own home if I want.”
“Look what happened in your own home,” he said, gesturing toward my face.
Admittedly, it was easy to forget about my face since I so rarely caught sight of it in the past day or so. But Miko was always looking at it, always remembering what had happened to me.
“That was before I knew there was a threat,” I reminded him. “It’s different now.”
“I don’t care. You’re not staying in your apartment until I know it’s safe.”
“I’m not wasting money staying at a ho—“
“You’re staying with me,” he cut me off.
“I’m… no, I’m not,” I said, even as heat bloomed through my body, that warm blanket-hugging sensation wrapping tightly around my shoulders and chest.
“Sugar, this isn’t up for debate.”
“What are you going to do, cuff me to the bed?” Even as the words escaped me, I knew exactly how they were going to be received.
Miko struggled to keep his lips in a straight line. And failed pretty miserably. “I’m not opposed to that idea,” he said, a wicked glint in his eyes. “But I am choosing to believe that when you stop being stubborn, you will see it is the smartest, safest option.”
He wasn’t exactly wrong there.
We would be better as a pair until this was over. Especially since he was trying not to use his family on this case.
“What about Chuck?”
“What about him?” Miko asked, glancing over just in time to catch Zeno slapping Chuck’s hand away from one of his keyboards.
“He needs to be somewhere safe.”
“Yeah. So?”
“So you only have one extra bedroom,” I reminded him.
“We’re both adults,” Miko said, the beginnings of a challenge on his face. “We can share a bed.”
“Hey, if you want to share a bed with Chuck, I’m not one to judge,” I said, loving the way his eyes crinkled as he turned away to smile.
“Unless you’re worried you won’t be able to control yourself in the same bed as me,” he said, leaning close, his voice a secret just for the two of us.
He knew exactly what he was doing, damn him.
And that it would work.
“Get over yourself, Miko,” I said with an eye roll that I hoped made it impossible for him to see how revved up I was getting at just the idea of being in bed with him again.
“Good, it’s settled then,” he said, stupidly handsome with the joy of his victory.
It was about three hours later when Miko and I both got back from the laundromat, since he dug his heels in about me not going alone, that Zeno approached, a muscle ticking in his jaw with his frustration.
“Miko, you’ve got to get him—“ he started, then exhaled hard, his head tilting to look up at the ceiling. “If you touch that, I swear to God, I will go deep into your search engine history and find every embarrassing search—like wondering what the inside of a real, live pussy might feel like—and blast it all over your socials for all your friends and family to see,” he called back to Chuck in the dramatic frustration of a big brother being annoyed to his breaking point by his sibling.
“Need some peace to work?” Miko asked, his smirk indicating he knew the feeling Zeno was experiencing all too well.
“God, yes,” Zeno said, sighing hard.
“Alright. We’ll get going so you can focus. You got my number?” To that, Zeno shot him a bemused expression that said even if he didn’t, he could figure it out.
“Chuck, get your shit. We’re heading out,” Miko called.
“Where are we going?”
“Home to get some sleep,” Miko said, and it was right then that I noticed just how worn out he looked. I felt the same fatigue deep in my bones.
“Your home?” Chuck asked, nearly overturning his chair in his rush to get over toward us.
“Just… leave it,” Zeno grumbled when Chuck’s duffle caught the edge of his desk, sending a stack of shit tumbling to the ground. “And go. Please. For the love of God.”
“I’m picturing, like, a lair,” Chuck said as Miko half-shoved him out into the hall.
“Thanks for doing my laundry, you pretty little thief, you,” Zeno said with a smile that would have charmed the panties off any other woman in Manhattan. “Oh, and I give it half the night.”
“Give what half the night?” I asked as I moved into the doorway.
“You being able to keep your hands off of each other,” he said with a knowing little smile before turning and heading back to his desk.