Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“Fuck, baby,” Rico groaned, hips rocking up into me, finding his own release on the tail-end of mine.
He pulled me down next to him after, curling his legs up under mine, his arm draped across my hips.
And my stomach chose that exact moment to object to its emptiness. “Why didn’t you eat?” he asked, hand rubbing over my stomach.
“I wasn’t hungry,” I said as he pressed a kiss behind my ear then rolled away from me, going into the bathroom for a moment before coming back out, still gloriously naked.
“Come on,” he demanded, reaching up to grab my ankles and dragging me to the bottom of the bed.
“I need my clothes,” I objected, trying to flip over to reach to the side of the bed to get my shirt at least. Or his.
“No, you don’t,” he said, reaching for my wrists instead, and pulling me to my feet.
“But Bass…”
“Told ‘em to find somewhere else to crash tonight,” he said.
“That wasn’t necessary,” I insisted as his hand slid to mine and started to pull me along with him.
“It was,” he insisted. “What’d you order?” he asked as he led me into the kitchen, then pulled open the fridge door.
“I got spaghetti and meatballs and some lasagne,” I told him.
“Half and half?” he asked, reaching for plates.
“Always,” I agreed, watching as he shot me a soft look before splitting the food up and putting one plate into the microwave. “Are we really going to sit and eat naked?” I asked.
“In bed,” he clarified. “Hey, bud,” he said as Evander came padding into the kitchen to throw his body against Rico’s legs.
“He seems to have settled in,” I said as the cat finished rubbing against Rico, then hopped up on the counter to stare lovingly at him instead.
“Good,” Rico said. “Since you guys are going to be staying here.”
“For a few days,” I said, nodding.
Rico didn’t speak for a second as he took one plate out of the microwave and set the other one in.
“Longer than that, I hope,” he said. “Can’t force you to stay here. But want you to,” he told me.
“Maybe you should give that some thought,” I suggested, taking the plate from him.
He turned to grab forks and knives, slipping one set onto my plate. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” he admitted as he went into the fridge to grab two bottles of water. “Been thinking about buying a bigger place for the both of us,” he went on, handing me my water, then going to fetch his plate.
“What? This place is huge,” I said, looking around again.
“Could use another bedroom or two,” he said. “In case we decide down the road to have kids.”
“You’ve… been thinking about that kind of thing?” I asked, cautiously hopeful.
“For weeks,” he said. “I know shit is new and we need to explore this without the secrets between us for a while before we can give that other shit more serious thought. But I’m game if you are.”
“You’re sure?” I asked, still struggling to believe he was so accepting of my betrayal.
“Yeah, babe, I’m sure. The question is… are you in?”
I was in.
God, I was all in.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Rico
I knew Kick was nervous that Renzo was going to lose his shit about her fucking with the family money.
The thing was, I’d been working so closely with Renzo for so long that the two of us practically shared the same mind on just about every issue.
No, he wasn’t happy that her ex and her brother had the balls to think they could come at us, that they could force one of our employees to work for them.
But, yeah, he understood the impossible situation Kick was in. Even if she and her brother were estranged and there were hard feelings over Jake deciding to side with her ex and lead him to her when she was free of him, there were still some feeling of responsibility when she realized he was in duress.
“You’re sure she’s telling the whole truth?” Cinna asked, watching me.
“I’m sure.”
“I don’t even really know Kick,” Bass piped in. “But that chick looked horrified about what she was doing in the surveillance videos. She wasn’t excited about getting away with something or anything like that.”
To that, Cinna nodded.
“I could lean on her if you want to be sure,” Saff volunteered.
“Absolutely fucking not,” I said, watching as everyone turned to me, brows raised.
Because, yeah, I understood their confusion. I’d always been the one who never wanted to leave a stone unturned, who was always insisting that we knew every single factor of a situation. Whether that meant grueling questioning or outright torture, I was okay with it if it was what was best for the family.
But not when it came to Kick.
“Sounds like congratulations are in order,” Dav said, shooting me his trademark smirk.