Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Hunter’s huge hands rest on the table, and I imagine what it would be like to be held around the throat by one hand while he uses those big fingers to push inside me. He could claim me, and I’d be powerless to resist. The rush of warmth between my legs is shameful. Normal women don’t get off on the idea of being forced to have sex. Normal women are looking for men like Robert and Evan, who care about how we feel while still being as manly as fuck. Normal women aren’t looking for an alpha douchebag Tarzan wannabe to throw them over their shoulders and carry them off into the jungle.
I'm not a normal woman.
“Breakfast is getting cold,” Robert hisses. “Can I trust you to keep your mouth shut while I get the bowls?”
Hunter grunts and Evan grabs the back of his chair and pulls it. When we’re all seated at the table again, I take a deep breath and let it out of my nose slowly. Hunter’s chest is rising and falling faster than it should. He’s seriously riled up about all this. A vein on his temple throbs. It’s not just about some pathetic macho attitude. It’s physically affecting him to sit opposite me right now.
I have never had this effect on anyone before. I mean, I’ve been told I’m pretty. My hair is cute, and my nose is small and buttonish. My eyes are a delicate shade of forget-me-not blue, and my body is curvy. Maybe a little too plump for some, but I’m happy with my soft femininity. I like the contrast between my womanly body and Robert’s hard plains. But this is different.
This is a raw need.
This is animal and carnal.
This is everything I should run from, but I’m drawn to it instead.
These men want to share me. They believe I’m their destiny.
They want to claim me as their mate, and they have a room upstairs that can make my wildest fantasies come true.
I wonder why I’m not jumping at the chance when I summarize it like that.
Robert serves out the porridge and hands me a bowl first. Cream and maple syrup sit in the center of the table, and I add both. When I try the first spoonful, I’m in heaven. Porridge has never tasted this good. I look around the table at these three huge, rugged men wolfing down their creamy oats, and I want to laugh. They’re bears. Shouldn’t they be eating enormous plates of sausages, bacon, and eggs? Or even steak?
Either they read a lot of fairytales when they were kids, or fairytales are real. The prospect of the latter is more than a little terrifying.
“I want to go to my store and see what has happened for myself.”
Hunter clears his throat. “We’ll go down there today and check it out for you. It’s too dangerous for you to go.”
“I’m not a fragile flower,” I say. “It’s my business. I need to call the insurance company. It’ll take money to get the place up and running again.”
“Robert and I will go down there today. We’ll take pictures and ensure it’s secured as much as possible. Then, if you need to go home, Evan can take you to retrieve some things. But you need to come back here.” Hunter’s tone is firm enough to discourage any argument. In a way, I’m grateful that I won’t have to deal with this all by myself. Witnessing the fire damage and ruin would be heartbreaking for me.
If they’re happy to deal with it, I’m happy to let them.
19
HUNTER
As soon as Robert climbs into my truck, I speed off. He fastens his seatbelt and rests back as the engine revs and the tires spit up leaves and gravel in our wake.
“You gonna drive like you have a death wish?” he asks calmly. For whatever reason, when traits were being handed out between us, Robert took all the patience and left me with all the frustration. Not for the first time in my life, I resent the intensity of feeling that comes with being the alpha.
“I’m gonna drive like we have somewhere to get to,” I say. “An urgent errand for our mate.”
“You could just call her Goldie. It is her name.”
I turn to him, grimacing. There’s never been a time where I’ve felt more at odds with my brother. Why did it have to happen now and over something so important?
I grit my jaw as all the angry, vitriolic things I could shout at him pound through my head. The disappointment I feel about this situation is a boiling furnace in my gut.
We’ve been waiting for so long, and this is how our mate comes into our lives? I don’t understand why.
All the stories we’ve been told about the generations who’ve gone before are worth being told. Our parents met by chance at a crossroads. They were supposed to pass each other and head in different directions, but they ended up walking together, and from that day on, they were always side by side. Our father’s parents met at a bakery. He was in search of apple cake, something his momma used to make for him before she passed away. His mate was working behind the counter, and her baking specialty was apple cake, just the way he liked it. Our momma’s parents met when our grandfather passed a woman whose bag had split open. Her groceries were scattered across the sidewalk, and our grandfather stopped his car to help her. The rest was history.