Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 103413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Liam nodded and before she even knew what was happening, she was being lifted and cradled in the huge man’s arms.
She tensed, waiting for the panic to come over her. Nobody touched her except her family. Oh, and Nico today. But for some reason, she didn’t panic when he touched her.
Although panic bubbled in her stomach, it didn’t manifest into an attack. The anxiety didn’t overtake her. And she wasn’t sure why.
Liam Carmichael wasn’t a safe guy. He was imminently dangerous. Maybe not to her physical health. But her mental and emotional health couldn’t take him. Couldn’t stand up to him. She stiffened. Prepared to fight him off.
“Easy, baby,” Liam whispered, making her tense for an entirely different reason.
Baby?
He’d called her baby. And it wasn’t just the word, it was the way he’d said it. In a soft croon that filled her body with warmth. Suddenly, she wasn’t cold or afraid.
Liam carried her out to the bedroom, where Nico sat on the bed. He patted his lap. “Give her to me.”
They were treating her like a doll. Precious and easily breakable. She didn’t want to be like that. But right then, she felt very, very fragile. And their care was like a bandage on her wounds.
She was placed in Nico’s lap. Then Liam picked up the blanket at the end of her bed and gently tucked it around her.
Lottie couldn’t help but stare at him in amazement.
“Told you,” Nico murmured as Liam turned away and walked into the bathroom. “Marshmallow.”
“Why are you both here?” she asked as Liam returned with a wet cloth and the first aid kit.
“We wanted to check in on you after today,” Nico told her. “You weren’t at dinner. We were worried.”
Liam was silent as he crouched in front of them. He grabbed her sore hand and gently started washing it with the cloth. She hissed as he touched a particularly sore spot, reflexively trying to draw her hand back. But he kept hold.
“Easy, baby. I’ve got you.”
He was being so gentle, it brought tears to her eyes.
“Sh, pretty girl,” Nico whispered in her ear. “Everything is going to be all right.”
Liam had moved to cleaning the other hand. She shook her head.
All right? How can anything ever be all right?
“Because Liam and I won’t allow you to be anything else,” Nico told her firmly.
“I said that out loud?” she asked. Now, she was really losing it. She didn’t even know what she was thinking and what she was saying.
Liam didn’t look up from his task. Didn’t say anything. He just took care of her silently, but with such attentiveness that she could feel tears filling her eyes.
Lottie was loved. She knew that. Her brothers adored and protected her ferociously. And if they didn’t, her cousins would. She’d always been loved. Always.
But there was something about having this big man, a man who’d obviously lived a hard life crouching in front of her, taking care of her. While his sweet, loving husband held her like she was precious.
Like he never wanted to let her go.
It was something else. She wasn’t a beloved sister or cousin.
She felt like a woman.
She couldn’t remember when she last felt like that. Delicate, not because her mind was fragile, but because these two men dwarfed her. Yet they wouldn’t use their strength against her, but for her.
“You can’t make me better,” she told them.
“No,” Liam said as he wrapped her knuckles with gauze then a bandage, going a bit overboard. They were just swollen with a small scratch. “Only you can fix you.”
She sucked in a breath. Yeah. He was right. Only problem was she had no idea how to fix herself. And sometimes, she thought she was scared to try.
“But you don’t have to do it alone. There are people who will help you,” Nico told her. “People you can lean on. You’re not supposed to do this sort of thing on your own.”
“I have my family,” she pointed out. “I’m hardly alone.”
“Aren’t you?” Liam said. “If you’re not on your own, then why haven’t you asked them to help you? Why isn’t one of them here, taking care of you?”
His words were bitten off, as though he found them almost bitter.
“It’s not fair on them for me to be a burden all the time.”
Nico tightened his arms around her, while Liam’s gaze spat blue fire. “A burden? That’s what they think of you? They told you that you were a burden? I’ll fucking kill them.”
“No, wait! They didn’t say it to me,” she said hastily as he stood.
Liam froze, staring down at her. His hands were clenched into fists. The last thing she wanted was for him to go off and tell Regent about this.
“But they made you feel it,” Nico said while Liam stood there. She got the feeling he was barely holding onto his control. Tension coiled inside him, ready to explode.