Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Pushing his lust aside, he said, “We’re going to have to be extra careful with your safety, Remi. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to stay here until these murders are resolved.”
Remi squeezed his hand. “I’m really, really good with that…especially the part about you staying with me—not so much about the my safety part, though. Why do you think I could be in danger? He doesn’t see me. Gary didn’t see me until after he died. Jason Waylon never saw me; I couldn’t even offer him any comfort or hope.”
Ryder keyed the security code into the front door, ushered them both inside, and then activated the alarm system again. “Listen, there’s lots we need to talk about, starting with what you saw with Gary and ending with what happened this morning. That’s going to wait, though. Jeremy said you needed to rest after…after…well, you know, just after. Between the three of us, he seems to understand more about what’s happening with you, so I’m going to take his word for it and put you to bed. When you wake up, we’ll start from the beginning and go to the end. Okay?”
“Uh, yeah; I guess. I feel…weird, really weak. Why do you think I might be in danger, though? At least tell me that much.”
“Because whoever did that to Jason Waylon meant for him to die this morning. Hell, if it wasn’t for you, Jason would be dead right now, just like the man planned. When he hears that Jason was rescued, hundreds of questions are going to pop into his head about how anybody found him. While I’m confident the police won’t release any names, I don’t have the same confidence with the people that were at the construction site. They heard me yell your name. With a little bit of internet work on this guy’s end, there’s a chance he could sort things together and learn your name. He won’t understand how you found Waylon, but he won’t care. He’ll need you eliminated.” Ryder tucked some of Remi’s black hair behind his ear and said, “And that’s where I come in. I’m your muscle, Remington Newsome; whether you want me or not. Cassie would kill me if I let anything happen to her best friend.”
Hell, why had he said that? He knew Cassie’s friendship with Remi wasn’t the only reason he wanted to position his body between Remi and a murderer. And Cassie sure the hell didn’t have anything to do with the reason he wanted to position Remi’s body between him and a mattress.
Remi grinned slyly, like he knew Ryder’s secret—knew the words he’d left unsaid. “Oh…in that case, I guess you’ll need to sleep in my room with me, won’t you? I mean, with all those windows in there, I just couldn’t feel safe without you next to me.” His body shook with a very fake shiver and his eyes glowed with a sweet mixture of amusement and lust.
Remi had never openly flirted with Ryder before, not since that first night, and Ryder wasn’t sure what had brought it on so suddenly. He was just glad it had. Remi was cute when attempting the feisty flirt.
“I guess if it would make you feel safer, then I really don’t have a choice, do I?” Ryder answered with a smooth smile of his own.
Remi chuckled and took Ryder’s hand and led him toward the hallway that took them in the direction of his bedroom. “Who would have ever thought I would enjoy the damsel in distress routine so damn much?” He looked over his shoulder and grinned at Ryder.
It was a Cheshire grin—one that Ryder could easily fall in love with.
When they reached his bedroom, Remi frowned. “What happened to my door?”
Ryder shrugged. “I may have rammed in to it when I heard you screaming.” He held up a hand to stop Remi from stating the obvious. “Yes, I know it wasn’t locked so knocking it off the hinges wasn’t necessary, but at the moment, I didn’t stop to think. I needed to make sure you were safe.”
“Oh. Well, it turned out I was just having a crazy attack. We’ll need to get that fixed before Cassie gets back. She’s anal about everything being tidy and in its place.” He looked around the room, a nervous expression on his face. “Uh…I had a cat in here. Do you think we’ll ever find it? If it claws up Cassie’s shit, she’ll kick my ass.” He looked up at Ryder and said, “I know she’s your niece and you don’t find her scary, but those little people can be vicious!”
Ryder had already noticed the cat’s head peeking out from under Remi’s bed, its greenish-gold eyes blinking slowly as it watched them. He hadn’t paid much attention to it the first time because Remi had been in distress, but now that he had a few spare seconds to look the feline over, he realized it had to be the ugliest cat in the history of catkind. One of its ears had been nearly chewed off by something, one eye was lazier than the other, making it look weird when it stared at you, and the tip of its pink tongue hung out of one side of its mouth. It was an inky black color, but the closer Ryder looked, he couldn’t help but notice patches of fur were missing. Poor little thing.