Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 29744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
"Oh, Ronan," she whispers, striding across the small bedroom toward me. "Now I really feel like a jerk. I keep bringing it up, and it's probably the last thing you want to talk about."
"You aren't a jerk," I growl. "I don't have any secrets, Winter. Anything you want to know, you ask me. You might not like the answers, but I'll give them to you."
She eyes me for a moment, her amber eyes scanning across my face. "Why?"
"Because you need to know that you can handle this shit," I say, reaching out to touch her cheek. I can't fucking help it. She's standing in front of me, soft and sweet and vulnerable, and I need to touch her, just to see if she's real. Just to see if she's as soft as she looks. A spark jumps from her skin to mine, plunging all the way to my fucking soul. "You need to know that you aren't alone and this motherfucker won't win."
She sighs softly, stepping into my touch. "I'm tired of feeling alone."
"You aren't alone," I growl. "Not anymore, songbird. I'm right here, and I'm going to get you through this, all right?"
She nods, blinking back tears.
I curse silently and drag her into my arms, She comes willingly, allowing me to wrap myself around her. I hold her tight, taking as much comfort from her sweet embrace as I give to her. She's the sweetest thing I've ever had in my arms. And she smells like peaches.
"I don't feel so alone anymore, Ronan," she whispers into my chest.
"Good because you aren't."
She tips her head back to look up at me, her amber eyes wide and somber. "Neither are you, you know. I don't know what you went through or what you're still going through. Maybe you don't want to talk about it with me. But I'm here," she says. "If you ever want to talk, I mean. I'm here."
How can this tiny, brave little songbird stand beneath the weight of what she's going through and offer to bare the weight of my pain for me too? I don't know. Is it possible to fall in love in the blink of an eye? If so, I think I just did.
"I lost my team in Somalia two years ago," I murmur. "We were looking for a village of hostages to carry back coordinates and everything went wrong. A group of al-Shabaab insurgents spotted us and rigged an old village to blow. I was lagging behind, trying to get a signal on our radios when I heard their transmission. By the time I got close enough to warn my team, it was already too late."
"I'm so sorry," she whispers. "I can't even imagine what you went through."
"Hell," I rasp. "I went through hell."
She squeezes me as if she intends to mold me back together through sheer force of will alone. "Thank you for telling me."
I lean down, brushing my lips across hers in a soft, grateful kiss. "Thank you."
"For what?" she whispers.
"For being you, Winter." I step back, determined to give her a little space before I push too far and take too much too soon. "Why don't you get settled in while I go make some calls and see if I can't get some people on your case?"
She blinks those big, beautiful eyes at me. "You can do that?"
"Baby, you didn't just hire a bodyguard. You hired the pushiest motherfucker this side of the Mason-Dixon. If I can survive three bullet wounds and a knife in my back in the middle of the goddamn mountains in Somalia, you better believe I can light a fire," I growl, turning for the door.
She grabs my arm. "You were shot three times?"
I lift my shirt, showing her the silvery bullet wounds and scar tissue littering my torso.
"Ronan," she gasps, reaching out with trembling fingers to trace the worst of the wounds.
I groan, my cock imprinting against my zipper and pleading for relief at the feel of her hand on my abdomen.
She immediately jerks her hand away, jumping as if I burned her. "I'm sorry." Her cheeks blaze with color, her gaze bouncing around to keep from meeting mine. "I shouldn't have done that."
No, she shouldn't have. Because now I'm pissed she stopped. I want her hand back on me. Only I want it lower this time, wrapped around my cock while she sucks on the fat head.
Jesus Christ.
"It's fine," I growl, stomping from the room before I snatch her up and do something I can't take back. Like fuck her up against the wall.
Fuck my life. There's no way I'm going to be able to keep my hands off this girl. None at all.
Chapter Five
Winter
"Get out of there," Ronan groans from across the hall. "It's going to blow."
My heart clenches in my chest, threatening to crack in half. He's dreaming about the day he lost his teammates again. He had the same nightmare last night. I know because I spent half of the night standing vigil outside of his room, trying to keep him company. I don't know why. I just didn't want him to be alone while he suffered through the nightmares, but I wasn't sure if I was allowed to intrude, either.