Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
What was he going to think?
That you’ve got a gland problem?
Awesome. If she could, she’d face-palm herself.
“I don’t care what you say about your father. He’s gone. He’s not coming back. The same as my old man.”
“You didn’t get along with him?” she asked.
Not that she was surprised. His father had been just as scary as hers.
“I hated the cold, unfeeling bastard,” Regent told her fiercely.
Her eyes widened and she nearly shushed him. Too many years of her mother teaching her not to say anything negative about her father or the Malones were ingrained into her. Too many years of being trained to stay silent, unseen, and unheard.
“I’m sorry,” she told him.
“It’s not your fault.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “No. But I’m still sorry that you didn’t have a good relationship with him. My father . . . he wasn’t a very nice man. But I always had Mama.”
“I’m glad you had Anne. She’s always been kind to me. I hope she’s living her best life.”
She managed a small smile. “She really is.”
“Good. She deserves it. You deserve to be happy, too, Jilly. The Crane isn’t here. He can’t hurt you anymore. And I won’t allow anyone else to.”
What? Really?
She didn’t know how to handle that. She wanted to wave it off as something someone said but didn’t really mean. After all, there was no way he could stop anyone from hurting her.
But he seemed so intense that she didn’t really want to brush his words away.
However, she knew she’d be hurt again in the future. It was inevitable. Because there were so many people out there that sucked.
“Did he used to hit you?” he asked in such a gentle voice that she had to fight back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.
“Would you like a c-cracker?” She winced as her voice stuttered, her nerves showing.
He eyed her for a long moment before squeezing her hand and letting it go. “I know you’re not ready to trust me. That’s all right. Trust must be earned, and we haven’t spent enough time together lately for you to feel that way. Which will change.”
Would he start to fall for her? Would he want her?
Or would she be sidelined as a friend, watching as he found someone else to love?
Oh. That would suck.
At the same time, she knew that she wanted to spend more time with him. She was starting to think she was a masochist.
“Now, eat your dinner.”
His phone buzzed and he looked at it. “Stay right there.”
Again, with the orders.
Didn’t he know that telling her to do something made her want to do the opposite?
Hmm. She guessed that perhaps he was just too used to everyone in his life doing whatever he told them to.
When he left the room, she hastily ate a cracker.
Okay, she was hungrier than she thought she was. After eating another cracker, she realized that she could hear voices again.
Moving quietly, she tiptoed over to the doorway once more, peeking out to see . . . a man up a ladder at her front door.
And Regent was holding up a flashlight so he could . . . was he replacing the bulb in her security light?
Holy. Heck.
Was this what he meant by wanting to be her friend?
It felt more than that, right?
Jilly, don’t be an idiot.
Regent Malone is not for you.
Regent climbed into the backseat of his car with a frown.
He felt lighter, and yet like he’d accumulated a whole bunch more things to worry about.
All of them centered around Jilly.
After she’d eaten, she’d started swaying in her seat. So he’d insisted she go to bed.
Alone.
This attraction he felt toward her wasn’t a good thing. Especially since he’d just told Jilly that he would be keeping a closer eye on her.
She was so innocent. So sweet.
There was no way she could handle any of his needs and desires. He knew that.
Just as he knew, there was no place for someone like her in his life.
But finding out how reckless she was with her safety . . . well, that had ensured that he would definitely be checking in on her more often.
“Everything all right?” Jose asked from where he sat in the driver’s seat.
“Not exactly.”
“What is it?” he asked. “Is there something wrong with Ms. Crane?”
He’d noticed that she’d flinched earlier when he’d used her full name.
It made him wonder what The Crane had been like to live with. He’d assumed he was made from the same cloth as Regent’s father. But perhaps he hadn’t been.
Laurent Malone had never touched his children in anger. He’d never touched them with love either.
However, he wondered if the same could be said about Orlando Crane. Damn it. Wouldn’t he have noticed something like that? If he’d been physically abusive to his daughter?
Not that being emotionally abusive wasn’t bad enough.