Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Maybe it’s me? Maybe she just doesn’t like me? I think on that for a second, then shake it away. Of course that’s not it. What’s not to like? I’m over six feet of muscle, golden hair, and enough medical know-how to pass my boards with my eyes closed. Am I also a former mercenary with the Red Scorpions? Yeah, that, too. But she doesn’t need to know about any of that.
“Why are you staring at me?” She turns and focuses that sexy glare on me again.
“You’re beautiful.” I shrug.
She rolls her eyes. “You’re such a liar. I’m going back to bed.” She turns too quickly and almost loses her balance.
I catch her elbow, then help her across the wood floor. “I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a liar, Bells,” I say softly.
She sits on the bed and looks up at me, distrust in her eyes and tension in her body. “You mean to tell me that you”—she waves a hand up and down at me—“think I’m beautiful?”
“Yes. I’ve been telling you that since you got here.” I kneel and reach for her legs to help her back into bed. When I grip her ankles, I resist the urge to place kisses on her knees. God, she’s so tempting all the damn time. But I dutifully swing her legs back up on the bed and draw the covers over her.
“You’re full of shit.”
“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t make it true.” I reach over and unwrap the bandage around her forehead, then check the lump. It’s been persistent, which is worrying, but now it’s finally going down. Slowly. “How are your body aches?”
She grumbles under her breath as I wrap her head back up. “I’m fine.”
“The truth, Bells. I want you back on your feet, but I need to know what hurts and what I need to work on.” I let my fingers stray into her dark hair for only a moment.
“My back hurts, okay? Upper and lower. And when I wake up, I feel like there’s a spike in my skull. Other than that, I’m peachy.”
“None of that is peachy. I’m still going to need to keep an eye on you. No hardship for me.” I force myself to leave her hair alone.
When I lean back, she’s peering up at me, her glare gone. “Why do you keep saying I’m beautiful?” She asks it in such a vulnerable, raw way. This is the real Bells, the one I’ve seen in glimpses. The one I want to know everything about.
I perch on the edge of our bed—I mean her bed—and look down at her. “Because you are, Bells. You are captivating.”
Her eyes water. “You don’t mean that.”
“I mean every word.” I lean closer, her lips like two plump delicacies. I want to taste them, to explore them, to memorize how they feel against my own. Closer. Closer still, and she hasn’t turned away. Instead, she’s breathing faster, and color rises in her cheeks.
I take a chance and put my palm to her face, touching her feather-soft skin. She darts her tongue out and wets her lips, and I move even closer. My body is practically vibrating with desire, with the need that’s consumed me ever since I saw her. Now she’s finally giving in, giving me a chance.
I’m almost there, our lips so close, when she lets out a yell. “You bastard! I see you, you furry jerk!”
She points at the window as I let out a groan and curse Leonard for the cockblock he is.
2
BELLS
I’m not sure if this cat is a gift or a curse. If it hadn’t jumped out in front of our car, none of us would be here. Yet, with the way my body is still filled with aches, I want to cuss it. Then I look at my best friend Aurora Davenport. Yeah, that Aurora Davenport. She’d won a few Grammy Awards before she could legally drive.
That sparkle she once had in her eyes is back. The Hollywood Hills had destroyed that bit of shine, the same way they do to so many others. I knew I had to do something about it before it was all gone. Her name has been everywhere lately, tabloids claiming this or that about her. I could see her becoming a shell of herself with all the negative media. It’s what prompted this whole idea of going to Frozen Falls. A place I randomly picked on a map.
It’s a small town that’s way off the radar. I’d hoped that there’d be no way anyone would find us here. Especially the stalker in Aurora’s life. Kent Kingston was as famous as Aurora, but his talent was on the big screen while Aurora’s was singing.
He’d always wanted her and obviously couldn’t take no for an answer. So he decided to start making her life a living hell. I knew all along he was the one feeding the press made-up bullshit. Even though we all knew the stories were lies, the vicious media coverage had taken a huge toll on Aurora.