Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“You’re not a little broken, Tia. You’re ten times stronger than I am.” He kissed each of my knuckles and closed his eyes, pulling me tight to his warm body. “I’m sorry for being a dick this morning,” he said.
I nodded.
He put his hand on my belly. It was still flat, but that wouldn’t last with the way I’d been eating in the last twenty-four hours. I was keeping food down since the day before too, which was a welcome change.
“Talking names? Can’t even see a bump yet but it’s…fuck…shit’s getting real.”
“Yep.” I looked him in the eyes.
He looked back into mine with warmth. “You forgive me?”
“Not sure yet. And it might be a girl, you know. Fifty-fifty chance.”
He shook his head, looking a little disgusted.
“Such a man thing. Prove you’re a man by having boys?”
“Naw, fuck. It’s not that. The idea of having a little girl? Scares the shit outta me.”
I smiled. “God help her boyfriends.”
He sorta looked a little green. He flexed his jaw muscles.
“You gonna puke?” I asked.
“I might.”
I cuddled into him and he wrapped me up tight in his arms.
“Well, whether it’s a boy or a girl it sure as heck isn’t gonna be Bella now,” I grumbled. “Thanks for ruining that for me.”
He put his mouth to my forehead but wisely kept his mouth shut.
I started to trace his tattoo, getting lost in thought. His hand started to move up and down my leg and then he was cupping my ass, his lips moving down my face with feather-light kisses as he made his way to my mouth.
I got lost in a hungry kiss, but then his phone rang and he looked at the screen and declined the call, a muscle ticking in his jaw as he fiddled with the phone a second and dialed another number. I didn’t tune into his conversation.
My mind wandered back to Tess. Thank God she was okay. She’d been through so much these last few months.
I thought back to my time in Mexico, in the little girls’ room in that dank basement. I felt a little sick, suddenly, remembered it with vivid detail. I smelled it down there. Tasted what that horrible guy down there did to my mouth. And then I remembered what that cop told me Tommy had done to Juan Carlos and to Earl. I felt the contents of my stomach coming up. I untangled myself from Tommy and dashed to the bathroom.
I’ve been sick and sleeping a lot and busy helping out with Lucas and Antonio and he’s been a wreck, trying to find his sister. It’s been awful. We haven’t made love in well over a week. And he’s grouchy.
So, I’d been thinking I’d try to help, entice him into a sexy game. But now my head was overflowing with memories of Mexico and the fact that he wants to take me to Vegas, which has some pretty rough memories, too, maybe even worse than Mexico, because I almost gave up on him, on us, while we were there.
Mexico was scary for me, but Tommy saved me from there. Vegas was painful for both of us and Tommy hurt me there.
I didn’t throw up. I’d just stood over the toilet for long moments, fearing that I would. Finally, I went back out and he was still talking on his phone, sitting on the edge of the bed, so I curled up beside him and put my head on his knee. He stroked my hair while he kept talking, discussing some construction job site problem with materials being stolen. I guess I fell asleep because I woke up a while later and I was still in bed but he wasn’t there.
I got myself mobile and started to pack for Las Vegas. I was looking forward to seeing Tess but I wasn’t looking forward to the rest of it.
I didn’t take the call when Leo Denarda called me again, this time using a phone that had his name on the caller ID. Ignoring the call would send a message and the message it sent was the message I wanted to send. He was not worth my time, and I had no interest in pandering to him.
I wanted him to see my sister on my arm and know that we’d gotten her back, despite his game. Nino was coordinating sneaking her in with Zack so no one would know she’d been retrieved.
While Tia slept, I got a few calls taken care of, including calling my brother-in-law Ed, and my top and most trusted muscle to set up a meeting at a quiet location where I’d be sure there would be no bugs and where we could map out a few potential plans for how to handle Denarda after the Fete opening.
Someone was picking me up. We were all leaving our cars behind and taking burner phones. I didn’t trust that any of us weren’t being tailed. And for the shit that needed to be discussed, we needed complete privacy.