Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 130947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Except she wouldn’t be having sex with Baird, she reminded herself sternly. Not bonding sex, anyway, whatever that entailed. She really needed to get a copy of the contract and find that out. She’d get right on it, she promised herself, as soon as she finished relaxing in the tub…
“Olivia, are you all right?” The deep voice startled her at first but then she realized it was just him—the dark man from her dreams. He’d been in pain before but he sounded happy now—happy because he’d found the one he was looking for. And Olivia was the one. He’s happy because he loves me whispered a thought in her head. For some reason it made Liv smile dreamily. It was true, he loved her. Out of all the women on Earth—all the women in the universe—his mind had aligned itself with hers and hers alone. He…
He was standing at the edge of the bathing pool staring down at her naked body through the clear water just as though he had every right!
Liv’s eyes snapped fully open as the half-dream she’d been having ended abruptly. “What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, trying to cover herself from his hungry gaze with her hands.
He looked amused. “Just checking up on you, Lilenta. You’ve been in here so long I wanted to make sure you hadn’t drowned.”
“I’m fine, thank you for your concern,” Liv said stiffly. “Now do you mind leaving so I can get out?”
“Feeling shy?” he rumbled, an amused look in his golden eyes.
“No,” she lied, keeping her hands firmly in place. “I just…don’t like being naked with someone I’ve known less than twenty-four hours. I’m funny like that. Now do you mind?”
“I don’t mind a bit.” His eyes were half lidded with desire and his voice was a soft, deep growl. “I’ve been watching you in my dreams for months but the reality is a hundred times better.”
For a moment Liv was thrown off balance by his mention of their dream-sharing. “I…you’re different from the dreams I had of you too,” she said softly.
“I was in a dark place then.” His liquid gold eyes were suddenly far away and filled with so much pain they were hard to look at. “Seeing you every night, memorizing your face, learning your body…it was the only relief I had.” He looked at her seriously. “You saved me, Olivia. As much as if you’d put out a hand and pulled me out of the pit yourself.”
Liv was at a loss for words, as she always was when he talked about the time before they met and the things he’d gone though. Part of her wanted to ask where he’d been and what horrible things had been done to him but she sensed he wasn’t really ready to discuss it yet. Or maybe ever. The remembered agony in his gorgeous, wild eyes was intense—almost too much to bear. But somehow, without even knowing it, she had helped him bear it. She remembered all the mornings she’d woken up after dreaming of him, feeling his despair and wishing with all her heart she could reach him, the dark man in her dreams, and find a way to save him. Was it possible that her sympathy for him had somehow traversed the strange link between them?
“You’re so damn beautiful,” Baird rumbled, still looking down at her. “Your beauty and strength of will kept me going when I wanted to lay down and die. I couldn’t give up because I knew if I did I’d never see you in person.”
“I’m here now,” Liv offered, not knowing what else to say. “But, Baird, I can’t promise to stay with you forever.”
“He shook his head. “Forever is a long time. Right now tonight is enough. Will you come out of the water?” He held out a plush crimson and gold towel as big as a sheet.
Liv bit her lip and tried to stop the stirring of desire his hungry look started in the pit of her belly. She couldn’t shake the feeling that he needed her. That what he felt was more than just lust, more than just the carnal desire to take her. But she couldn’t help that—she wasn’t ready for his need. She hadn’t asked to be his savior, his dream girl or the love of his life. And if she ever wanted to get back to Earth and the people she loved, she had to be firm. “This is an invasion of my privacy,” she told Baird sternly. “I’d appreciate it if you would leave so I can get dressed.”
The corner of his full mouth quirked upward. “This is our claiming period, Olivia. Legally, you don’t have any privacy. But since you’re still shy…” He shook the towel again. “Come on out, I promise not to look.”