Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
She flinched at the question, silent for the longest time before she whispered, “Car accident.”
Fuck. Didn’t know how to process the information she’d trusted me with throughout the day. The fact she was married, and I was sure this person had done her wrong, treated her bad. I mean, fuck, she still felt the need to look over her shoulder in fear that he might be coming after her.
That horror was far more than enough.
But this?
It was too fuckin’ much, and I hated that this girl’d had to bear that much grief.
I wanted to reach through the screen and hold a part of it for her. Promise her it would be okay. That there was joy waiting all around for her.
“That’s awful, honey.” The words were raw, coarse and littered with this feeling she’d lit inside me.
Sniffling, she wiped at her face with the back of her hand before she nodded, “Yeah, it’s awful.”
Her mouth twisted in a mournful smile, one riddled with eternal, broken love.
“See now why you look at Nolan the way you do.”
Her nod was soft. “I just see him for the treasure he is.”
A gift.
That’s what Raven had always said.
“He is,” I agreed, voice low and raw.
“Do you like it? Being a dad?”
My chest tightened.
A storm of ferocity.
“Yeah. Scares the fuck outta me most days, but I do.”
This kid that little bit of joy that I’d stolen. Didn’t deserve it, but there he was, sleeping down the hall, filling this house with all his happiness.
“You’re a good dad.” Her lips gave a soggy tilt at the side.
I grunted. “Not sure about that.”
“I am,” she murmured, and she was watching me in a way that no one had ever watched me before. Like she saw something deeper.
But that was because she didn’t have access to everything that was buried beneath.
Hidden and concealed.
“I’m trying to be,” I admitted.
“That’s all we can do, right? Do our best? It’s no different than the words on my arm. We have to live each day for what it’s worth. Pour ourselves into those around us. And I’ve been so scared of doing that—so scared of getting close to others—that I’ve almost forgotten what that means.”
She readjusted her arm, and it brought her into better view.
“Fuck, you’re so pretty.” I couldn’t stop the confession from sliding out.
So fuckin’ pretty. But I knew whatever I was feeling right then had little to do with that. This was far more than the base attraction I’d felt for her when she’d come through my shop’s door.
That shyness crept through her features, though she continued watching me as if maybe for the first time she wanted to be seen.
“You make me feel that way, River. You make me want to let you look at me that way. I never thought I’d want a man. Never thought I’d want to be touched again because that was ruined for me. I’d never felt a hint of it until that night when I first met you, and now…”
She trailed off, and a hurricane of possession whipped through my body.
The need to hold her. Take her. Keep her.
The last was the most dangerous of all.
“What now, Charleigh?”
“Now I can’t stop imagining what it would be like if you did make me forget.”
Lust reverberated through my insides, need coming on thick. “You been imagining it, gorgeous? What it’ll be like when I send you flyin’?”
Even in the dim light, I could see the flush crawl up her neck and hit those cheeks. “Yes.”
“And what do you do while you’re imagining it?”
“I burn.”
Fuck me.
“Do you touch yourself?”
Wasn’t sure I should admit right then that I’d been spending an inordinate amount of time fucking my hand. Envisioning her face and that mouth and that body. Fantasizing about what it would be like to possess all that sweetness.
Timidity hit her face, but she didn’t look away. “No. I’ve never allowed myself that…had never wanted to until now. I want you to be the one to take me there the first time.”
A growl rolled through my chest.
Need.
Possession.
A shout so fuckin’ loud inside me that I felt lightheaded.
I didn’t have time to respond before she continued, “You asked me to give you this time…to get to know you and decide if I trust you. And I do. I trust you, River.”
Her words tore me up and stitched me back together.
Flayed and saved.
Because she fuckin’ shouldn’t. She shouldn’t, and she sure as hell shouldn’t be looking at me the way she was looking at me right then.
I was all wrong.
No good.
And more than that, I was held by this pact.
Didn’t seem to matter right then, though, because I was gripped by the need to be whoever she needed me to be.
“I think I just need a little bit of time,” she added quietly.
“You’ve got no obligation to me, Charleigh. Don’t owe me a thing. But it will be my fuckin’ honor to be the one to show you that you’re a treasure, too. To show you that you deserve to be loved and touched and adored. Only thing I ask is if you get scared? If you feel like runnin’? Then you run to me.”