Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“Go inside,” he husked. “I’m just waiting for the patrol car to show up. They got pulled off because someone thought they heard a prowler.”
I cleared my throat. “Did it ever occur to you or Alex that if my partner were a criminal, having the brother of a DEA agent working with him wouldn’t be too smart?”
His gaze stayed locked on mine.
“So maybe, Nolan, just maybe, he’s a legitimate businessman.”
“No, that never crossed my mind.”
“And that maybe seeing you here, he thought I was your late-night booty call and that’s why he left.”
“What?”
“Or maybe,” I said cheekily, “you’re mine.”
“I’m your what?” he asked indignantly.
“The man I call to come fuck me at”—I checked my dive watch—“nine thirty on a weeknight.”
He got to his feet, as did I, and only because I’d stepped up on the porch, two steps higher, was I eye to eye with him. On equal ground, he could rest his chin on the top of my head. He was bulkier too, covered in thick, heavy muscle. “No one in their right mind thinks you call me and I come running. You’re deluded if you think so.”
My eyes fluttered at how full of himself he was.
“Trace.”
“What?” I asked as he joined me on the porch.
He took hold of my chin and tilted my head back so he was gazing into my eyes. “Please don’t give your brother any more heart palpitations.”
“I’ll try.”
Taking a step forward, into my space, he leaned close, and under the porch lights, I could see sepia flecks in his moss-green eyes.
“Thank you for waiting for the changing of the guard.”
“You’re welcome.”
His hand was warm, and whether he realized it or not, his thumb was rubbing over my jaw.
“Do you want to come in?” I swallowed so I wouldn’t make any telltale whimpering sound of desire. I was hurt, and I wanted someone to lie in bed beside me and watch TV while I slept. Even more, I wanted to be fucked through the mattress. There had been no one since Breckin. I wanted, needed, a man. It took everything in me not to yell at him to get his ass in my bed. It was the alcohol, and I knew that, but it didn’t help the hunger for him. My inhibitions were nonexistent. I wanted more than anything to be naked under him, under his power, under his hands.
“I better not,” he said, dragging his thumb along my bottom lip before he let me go. “You’re a little too defenseless tonight.”
I was going to ask what the hell that meant, but he turned and left me on my front step, watching him do what he always did—walk away.
THREE
It turned out, Dimah was right. Everything hurt more the second day. I felt like I was a hundred years old and moved like it. It was all I could do to get up, stagger to the couch, order food to be delivered, and then turn on the TV. I think when I tripped and fell onto the car the day before, that was what hurt the most. The graze on my arm was okay, but the jolt from the fall was what made me have to roll off the couch to the floor instead of sitting up like a normal person. I was broken.
Matt came by after work with Jasmine, and they brought Chinese food, and I got to hear them both vent about their boss and the stupid things he expected. I enjoyed their company, Jasmine made me mint tea with honey and ginseng, and by the time they left, I felt the best I had all day.
Friday morning was so much better, and it improved even more when Pavel and Iosif came by to drop off Dimah’s personal credit card. Not the business’s American Express I carried as well, but the one that just had Mashir on it like he was Beyoncé or Adele. It was beautiful and sparkled in the morning sun.
“My precious,” I said in my best Gollum voice.
Pavel shot me a look like I was not right in the head.
I leaned into his window to look at Iosif, who was driving. “What did you do the other night for the boss man to send you home?”
Iosif glared at me. “I was not sent home. I had to take dinner to my family.”
“Uh-huh,” I placated him. “Sure you did.”
“Dimah, he does not like it when he is not there to gatekeep what is said to you.”
I looked at Pavel, who shook his head slightly and squinted like that was crazy talk.
And while I agreed that Dimah had a way he liked all the people working for us to interact with him and me, “gatekeeping” was a bit much.
“You want we should drive you?” Pavel asked me.
“Oh no, you guys would be bored to death,” I told him, leaning sideways to look at Iosif. “Especially you. And what if you need to take lunch to your family or something?”