Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 36039 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36039 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Killing him had been easy. To him, it was fair, and now, knowing his mate had been part of that pack, he realized he had saved her too. He watched her, waiting for her to run away in terror.
She held up two bags. “I made lunch for us later. Do you want to show me what’s been done so far?”
“You’re not going to scream at me? Call me a murderer?”
Ashley shook her head. “I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I know a lot of people were hurt because of it. The pack, for a long time afterward, changed. They invoked a curfew. There were a lot of changes made, and I know many of them hated that they’d not been able to protect their own. You saved us. How can I hate you for that?”
“A lot of people would.”
“I don’t hate you,” Ashley said. “At least, not because of that.” She smiled at him.
He stared at her. “So you do hate me?”
She held up one hand, two fingers together. “A little bit.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want my mate to hate me a whole lot.” He held his fingers up and spread them apart. “So, I better distract you and show you my awful abode.”
She started to chuckle. He loved the sound. Taking hold of her hand, he threaded it through his arm, and they started to walk inside.
“As you can see, my sweet, the stench of death is nearly all gone.”
Another laugh. “Don’t ever become a realtor.”
He snorted. “It’s not something I ever wanted to do.” She didn’t pull away from him. “I think it’s only fair I take you upstairs, or whatever is left of the place.”
“I’m sure it’s not too bad.”
They walked upstairs. They had to skip a few steps as they were indeed missing.
Arriving upstairs, he had no choice but to let her go, but he did move her in front of him. He placed his hands on her hips.
“No floor.”
“Enough to get people around, but it’ll be fine. The electrician has already made a lot of progress.” They moved toward the main bedroom, which had already had new floorboards started in the corner. He’d done most of them this morning. He’d spoken to the electrician, who had to rush off because of an emergency, but he had promised to be back before the end of the day to finish.
“Wow,” Ashley said. “It looks … terrible.”
“Tell me about it. It’s a fucking mess.” He sighed. “But nothing that can’t be repaired. The plan is to get the flooring done, and then we’re going to work on the walls. One room at a time.”
Ashley slowly turned and as she did, it meant she ended up facing him, still in his arms.
“Are you tempted to leave?”
“Not a chance,” he said.
“This is not an easy fix.”
“Baby, haven’t you learned yet, I’m not the kind of guy that’s into easy fixing?” He tucked some of her brown hair behind her ear.
She tilted her head to one side. “You don’t miss the open road, no commitments, no crazy house that needs a lot of work?”
He leaned in close. “The open road doesn’t have you, so unless you’re willing to come with me, I’m staying.”
Ashley’s gaze fell to his lips, and he knew deep down she wanted to kiss him. He wanted to kiss her. Those lips were a fucking dream. Last night, sleeping in the spare bedroom, he was aware of her being so close to him, finally.
“Ashley, I’m going to kiss you.”
“Okay.” There was a slight hesitancy to her voice, as if she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted him to kiss her or not.
“Tell me if you don’t want this,” he said.
“I don’t know what I want.”
He sunk his fingers into her hair, which was so soft. Cupping the back of her head, he pulled her in close, and then slammed his lips down on hers.
Ashley melted against him. The hand that wasn’t holding the lunches splayed out across his chest, and he wanted to touch her even more. With his other hand, he curved it down her back, moving down toward her ass. She released a moan, but he wasn’t finished kissing those luscious lips. All night long he’d dreamt about kissing her, of exploring this sexy-as-fuck mouth, and he wasn’t about to give up the chance to do so.
He heard commotion downstairs, and Ashley pulled away, breaking the kiss. He wanted to go and yell at those who interrupted them.
She licked her lips. “I better … you know, go and make myself useful.”
“Sticking by my side is useful,” he said.
Ashley smiled but didn’t say anything, brushing past him.
“Tell me what I have to do,” he said.
She stopped and turned to him. “What do you mean?”
“What do I have to do to make it up to you? For you to realize that I wanted you, God, I wanted you so badly, but I was trying to protect you?”