Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“Where the fuck did you go?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
HOLDEN
I’m so fucking livid, there’s a red haze over my eyes. Millie’s gaze is wide, her brows pulled down in a frown, and she’s holding coffee.
“I just grabbed breakfast.” She stares at me with one cocky eyebrow lifted until I step back to let her inside. She sets the tray on the coffee table, then turns to me, her hands on her hips. “What the hell?”
“What the hell?” Jesus, I want to shake her. I have to pace away from her, raking my hands through my hair. “I didn’t know where you were, and you’re fucking injured!”
“I’m feeling a lot better today, actually.”
I spin and glare at her. She doesn’t look sorry at all. In fact, she looks like she might laugh.
Fucking laugh.
“This is not funny.”
“What? I didn’t wake you so you could carry me into the coffee shop, so now I’m in trouble? Jesus, Holden, calm down.”
“That’s enough.” I cross to her and take her shoulders in my hands. “Don’t you stand there and fucking mock me because I’m freaked out that I woke up to find my injured wife gone. I called. I texted. You didn’t answer.”
“I forgot my phone.” She tips her chin up, not looking sorry or intimidated in the least, and I’ll be goddamned if that doesn’t turn me on.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“I laid down the ground rules, baby girl.”
“You listen to me, husband. I’m not an invalid. I woke up feeling damn good and wanted to do something nice for you, so I did. I won’t apologize for that. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
My heart is hammering. It hasn’t stopped since I discovered her gone from the bed and realized that she wasn’t inside this goddamn house.
I had a bad moment, forgetting that my fucking father is dead, and thought he might have—I swallow hard and let her go, stomping away from her.
“Listen, I know that you’re obsessed, and—”
“For fuck’s sake.” I spin back around and stare at her. “You think I’m pissed because I’m obsessed with you? Christ, Millie, I’m not seventeen. I don’t have to be attached to your hip just because I’m smitten. I was fucking worried. You’re hurt, and I didn’t know where you went.”
“Well, now you know.” Her voice is like ice, and she shrugs as if she doesn’t give a rat’s ass, then shakes her head and reaches for her coffee. I have to take a long, deep breath to calm the fuck down. “Don’t be a dick about it.”
My eyes narrow, and I tilt my head to the side, my hands in fists.
Her gaze flicks down to my fists, then back to me.
“You won’t hit me.”
“FUCKING FUCK!” I yell and pace away, completely appalled. “Of course, I won’t fucking hit you! What has happened in the last few hours, wife? We went from fun, middle-of-the-night sex to this?”
“I’m mad,” she admits with a scowl. “And I don’t fight fair when I’m mad. I’m mean, and I talk back.”
“You’re mad.”
“Yeah, I’m fucking pissed.”
“Looks like we’re on the same page, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Don’t call you sweetheart.”
“No.”
“Why?”
She’s still scowling at me. “Because you don’t call me that.”
I’m a foot away from her now, unaware that I was slowly stalking toward her. She’s not afraid of me because she hasn’t backed away. My hand circles the column of her throat, my thumb pressed to her pulse point, which is thrumming hard.
“What do I call you?” My voice is quiet but hard, and while her eyes are still spitting fire at me, she licks her lips.
“You already know the answer to that question.”
My little spitfire. God, I fucking love her.
“You want to tell me to fuck off, don’t you?”
“More than anything.” She swallows hard, and the movement under my palm urges me on.
“Then do it.”
“Go fuck yourself, Holden.”
My lips immediately tip up into a wide grin. God, I love it when she does that. She looks so angry, so brave.
But her pulse gives her away.
“I’d rather fuck you, little rose.” I lean into her, not touching her anywhere but her throat, and she lets out a little whimper as I press my lips beside her ear. “My baby girl. My Rosie. My obsession.”
My thumb drifts up over her jawline, and now my lips hover over hers.
“My wife.”
“Don’t kiss me.” There’s no strength behind her words, and her eyes are pinned to my lips.
“You don’t want my mouth on you, sweetheart?”
Those fierce eyes snap up to mine and almost knock me on my ass. “No, honey.”
“Too fucking bad.”
She doesn’t push me away when I cover her mouth with mine, urging her head to the side so I can devour her. No, she doesn’t try to get away; she leans into me, grips my bare sides, and pulls me to her.
I’m still mad, and we’ll be having a conversation, but first, I want her to submit to me.