Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
But there’s no judgment. No shame. No secrets between us.
It’s liberating.
Soul-binding.
“You’re dehydrated.” She lightly slaps my face, her tone scolding. “Water is the one thing we have in abundance. Drink more of it.”
Okay, maybe there’s some judgment.
“Yes, ma’am.” My lips twitch. “Any other concerns?”
“Is that a trick question?” She releases a shivery breath and turns to give Kody the same treatment.
Even with our guards down, they’re still tense around each other, still hanging onto unsettled feelings.
I don’t like it.
If this were about sex, I’d have a different opinion about the strain between them. But sex has nothing to do with this.
We’re a unit, the three of us. When part of that unit is broken, it affects all of us.
“We finished here?” He climbs out before she answers.
“Kody.” She holds out her hand, offering an olive branch.
He ignores it. Makes a grunting sound. Loosens a breath. Then he reaches for her waist and lifts her out, plastering her against his chest.
I wait for her to push away, to wriggle to be put down. But she never does what I expect her to do.
As I step out and drag on my clothes, her limbs instinctively wrap around his torso. Like she belongs there.
She buries her face in his neck, and his hands slide up her back to tangle in her hair.
Guess they’re resolving shit.
If he gets a hard-on, I don’t know what I’ll do. The impulse to rip her out of his arms is a fire in my gut.
But it’s dimmed by a stronger need.
The need to erase those dark shadows from her eyes.
Hers and his.
Grabbing a clean blanket, I drape it around them and give his shoulder a shove. “Go warm up by the fire. I’ll bring your clothes.”
He meets my gaze, his expression thoughtful, questioning, maybe even dumbfounded. It’s a fleeting hesitation before he whisks her off into the bedroom.
I grab three pairs of wool socks, boxers for him, and an oversized shirt for her.
The transition between the bathroom and bedroom is a jolt to the system, like walking out of a freezer and into an oven.
That’s how it feels to me, anyway. For anyone who didn’t grow up here, I imagine it feels exactly like what it is. The Arctic.
Kody spent the past week boarding up the windows, caulking all the leaky cracks, and insulating the bedroom until it’s airtight. With the hearth roaring and our shared body heat, the cold won’t penetrate us while we sleep.
He and Frankie lie on the mattress beside the fire, huddled beneath eighty-thousand blankets. She holds up the edge of the pile, waiting for me to join them.
I climb in with their clothes and help her dress beneath the covers. Once we’re in our socks and settled on our sides, exhaustion hits me from all directions.
Without proper nutrition, I don’t have the endurance to keep up with this place. I know Kody feels the same. I see it in his bloodshot eyes.
When Denver was alive, tasks like heat and trash and roof maintenance just happened without our time and attention.
Thank God we have Frankie. Contrary to what she thinks, she’s a fast learner and a hard worker. But without Denver and Wolf, we’re down two experienced sets of hands, and I feel that in every achy bone in my body.
Inching closer to her sweet backside, I give into the pull of sleep.
Until she flops to her back and starts drumming her fingers on her abdomen.
“What’s wrong?” My eyes pop open and collide with Kody’s above her head.
“In the spirit of honesty…” She purses her lips. “Is there anything either one of you wants to tell me?”
That’s a loaded question if I’ve ever heard one.
“Uh…” I scratch my jaw. “Nothing comes to mind.”
“Can you be more specific?” Kody glowers.
“Yeah.” She props up on her elbows, compelling us to do the same. “Which one of you ejaculated on me?”
“Excuse me?” My breath seizes as I flick my gaze between her and Kody. “If you’re referring to that night in the workshop—”
“No, before that. When I first arrived here and slept alone in Kody’s room, I woke covered in semen.”
My pulse thunders, and my mind races as I regard my conniving, broody brother, studying his reaction.
His stone-cold expression gives nothing away.
Guilty as fuck.
I open my mouth to accuse him, but he beats me to it.
“It was me.” In a flash, he angles over her and catches me by the wrist.
Even malnourished, the bastard still has a ruthless grip.
“I’m going to tell her what she wants to know,” he growls, “and when I’m finished, you and I aren’t going to fight about it.”
“Leo isn’t going to do anything.” Flattened on the mattress beneath him, she pushes against his weight. “I’m already yours. Both of yours. There’s no need for any of us to feel territorial. Tell him I’m right, Leo.”