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)
"True story. I knew how I felt about Cash about two seconds after I met him, but I freaked out because I thought it was too fast and we weren't a good fit. I'm curvy and he's freaking hot." She rolls her eyes dramatically. "Our brains are stupid when it comes to love."
"Mine was so stupid," Cami agrees.
"It was different for you two," I mumble, sinking down into a chair. I nudge my toe against a knot in the carpet. "Things haven't been easy for him. He lost his whole team overseas. He's suffered so much." Tears well in my eyes at the thought of everything he's been through. Of everything he's still going through. "He still struggles so much. I think he feels guilty about what happened to his team. I don't… is it fair of me to ask him to give up what little peace he's found to live in my world?"
My world isn't peaceful. It's loud and cramped and busy. I spend half of my time surrounded by screaming fans or living on a tour bus. It's different cities every night with thousands of screaming fans or cameras shoved in my face. He's already sacrificed so much. How can I ask him to sacrifice what peace he's been able to carve out for himself to follow me around the world when I know how hard he's fought for what little peace he's found? It seems so selfish to even consider it.
He said I wasn't meant to be kept in a cage. But he wasn't made to suffer either.
"How do you know that's what you'd be asking him to do?" Riley asks.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I see the way he looks at you," she says. "He doesn't look like a man who feels like he's giving up anything to be close to you. From where I'm sitting, he looks a whole lot like a man staring at salvation when he looks at you." She shrugs. "Seems to me that maybe the peace he's been looking for is sitting right here, worried about taking it away from him."
Cami nods her agreement. "Peace isn't a place, Winter. Sometimes, it's a person. That's what Bentley is for me. As nervous as I get about singing in crowds or putting myself out there, so long as he's beside me, I know I can do it."
I consider that for a long, silent moment. Maybe they're right. I don't know. All I know for sure is that I'm in love with Ronan and I don't want to give him up, not now and not when I'm safe. The thought alone makes my stomach cramp. Which means there's only one thing left to do.
Pull up my big girl panties and tell him how I feel.
"You're too quiet," he growls, cornering me in the kitchen as soon as we get home an hour later. His face is set in a hard, disapproving line as he backs me up against the counter, blocking me in with his arms on either side of me. "I don't like it, songbird."
"I'm just thinking," I murmur.
A growl rumbles in his chest, making me smile. He says so much without saying a word. I love that about him. I don't have to guess to know how he feels about any given subject. He makes his feelings clear with a well-timed grunt or growl or grumble or a disgruntled look. It shouldn't be nearly as endearing as it is, yet I love it.
"Thank you for taking me to the hospital today. It meant a lot to me."
His expression softens. "I'd do anything for you, Winter."
"Except let me text my band."
His gaze slides from mine, but not before I see the brief flare of guilt light his eyes. Riley was right. That is why he threw my phone out of the window.
"They're like my brothers, you know," I whisper and then grimace ruefully. "They even annoy me like brothers most of the time."
His gaze shifts back to mine. "Doesn't change the fact that I'm jealous as hell of anyone with a dick who makes you smile," he mutters. "Maybe it makes me an asshole, but I want to be the center of your world, songbird." He wraps his hand around my throat, tilting my face up to taste my lips. "I want to be the only man you're thinking about."
"You are," I whisper.
"Yeah?" He nips my bottom lip. "You thinking about me right now, Winter?"
"Yes."
"Are you thinking about what we did last night?"
"Y-yes."
"Good," he growls, running his tongue along my bottom lip. "Because I intend to do it again tonight, songbird. But I'm not stopping this time. I'm taking what belongs to me."
"What belongs to you?" I manage to gasp. Lord, how does he manage to send my thoughts skittering away so quickly? All he has to do is touch me and I lose the ability to think straight. When he kisses me, I can't breathe. It's as if every cell in my body focuses on him and the little shocks of electricity zipping through my system, setting off fires all over the place.