Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 155903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
She stared up at him, her mouth open. “I can’t believe I find that so sweet.”
“I’m not sweet, Little Blossom. Never that. I’m just a man who knows what he wants. And what I want. I get. I keep. I protect.”
She just continued to stare up at him. He smiled at her gently. “Tonight won’t be easy for you, my baby. But you know you deserve what’s going to happen, don’t you?”
She shook her head. But it was okay if she felt the need to fight back. It could be hard to admit when you were in the wrong.
“You broke the rules.”
“I . . . I . . . how?”
“You ran out here without me. It’s dark, it’s late, and anyone could have hurt you. That put your safety at risk.”
She pressed her perfect teeth into her plump lip. God. He could feel himself growing harder.
“Time for a new rule, I think.”
“Reuben.”
He sent her a message on his phone. Yeah, he could have just told her, but he wanted all of these rules where she could see them.
He wanted her to know them inside and out. She drew her phone out of the small handbag hanging off her wrist.
Rule Five: Always run to me. Never away.
She sucked in a breath as she read the rule.
“It’s not one word this time.”
He shrugged. “No. This one needed to be longer.”
Steven drove the limo up to the curb and Reuben swept her into his arms, carrying her along the footpath.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Carrying you.”
“But you don’t have to. I can walk.”
“You don’t have any shoes on.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Steven opened the door without even a blink. Reuben slid into the limo with her on his lap. Then, he reluctantly set her down on her own seat.
Reaching over her, he buckled in her seatbelt. Then Steven pulled away from the curb.
And above all else, she had to be safe.
He did up his own seatbelt, remembering how upset she’d gotten at the thought of losing him.
That filled him with satisfaction.
She needed him. Maybe she was even starting to love him.
Which would be perfect.
If she loved him, she’d never leave him.
“Oh no!” she gasped. “We have to go back.”
He turned to look at her. “We’re not going back.”
“But we have to!” she cried. “I left Cammie’s coat back there and my shoes!”
“We’ll get them another day.”
“What if they get rid of them? We can’t get them another day.” She tried to reach for her buckle, but he grabbed her hand, frowning as he saw how she was panicking.
It was just a jacket and some shoes. Why was she so worked up over that?
“Baby, breathe.”
“I can’t borrow her jacket and not give it back.”
“Calm down,” he said firmly. “I’ll text Alejandro. He and Cat will get them for you.”
“But they don’t have the ticket for the jacket.”
He made a scoffing noise. “Do you think that anyone ever denies Alejandro? Or Cat, for that matter. Stay in your seat.”
He quickly texted Alejandro, sending him a photo of the ticket.
“He said he’d get your things,” Alejandro reassured her.
“Tell him thank you.”
“Hmm, you can tell him when you next see him. After you apologize for running out like that and not listening to him.”
Her mouth opened and shut. “W-what?”
“If I’m not around, Little Blossom, then you obey Alejandro as if he were me. Understand? He will keep you safe. But only if you do as you are told. Otherwise, he can’t look after you and Cat.”
“That’s insane. I can look after myself,” she muttered.
“Clearly not, since you took off outside without a jacket, shoes, or an escort.”
“No one was going to harm me.”
“You don’t know that.” He turned to her, grasping hold of her chin. “What did he say to you?”
“Who? Alejandro? He just said my name and told me to come back.”
“No. Lucien Leonard. What did he say to you? I need to know.”
30
Rule Six: Full disclosure
Fudge knuckles.
She knew that tone of voice. He was holding onto his patience by a thread.
And she wasn’t going to snap that last piece.
“It doesn’t matter,” she told him.
“I want to know, Blossom. And you will tell me. Remember rule two.”
Rule two was honesty.
She bit her lip. “We’ve had this conversation. Honesty doesn’t mean that I have to tell you everything. It just means that when I do tell you something, it needs to be the truth.”
“Fine,” he muttered, typing something on his phone.
Faith groaned. She should have known. Her own phone buzzed in her hand.
“Read your text, Blossom.”
She shook her head. Nu-uh. No. That was it. She was putting her foot down. No more rules.
“Faith. Read. Your. Text. Now.”
Crap.
Okay, so she wasn’t strong enough to fight that tone of voice. With a grumble, she opened her text message.
Rule Six: Full disclosure.
“And does this rule go both ways? Are you going to tell me everything?” she challenged.