Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 149338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
“No shit. You need to rest.”
She reluctantly nodded, taking them, fighting an internal struggle not to argue with me. I sat back in the armchair, sinking into it. Rubbing my fingers over my mouth as I watched her contemplate what else she wanted to say to me.
“Have you been doing this every night? Sitting there? Watching me?” she finally asked what had been plaguing her since the minute she woke up in this room.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.”
“I’m not who you think I am, Lexi. And the sooner you realize that, the better.”
“Maybe you’re not who you think you are. Have you ever considered that?”
Her words resonated somewhere deep inside of me.
“What do you think is going to happen here, cariño? Do you want to be my whore?” I crudely asked, wanting to make her uncomfortable. Knowing all I had to do was push that hard limit for her.
Sex.
My stomach fluttered, seizing my body completely. I inadvertently writhed around in the sheets. Basking in the cool feeling against my heated skin.
“No,” I replied in a voice I didn’t recognize. “You have plenty of those. How about we just start off as friends? I don’t have many. And for some reason I couldn’t possibly begin to understand,” I sarcastically stated, “I don’t think you do either.”
“Friends?” he drawled out, like the word seemed foreign coming from his lips.
“Yeah… I mean. We kind of sort of are, I guess. Friends help each other. You saved me so—”
“And what are you going to do for me?”
“Oh… Well, what do you want?”
“Something I shouldn’t.”
“Which is?”
“You. In my bed. Now.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything at all. My heart sped up, beating a mile a minute. I swear he could hear it. Sweat started pooling at my temples. “Stop trying to make me feel uncomfortable, I know what you’re trying to do,” I voiced in a steady tone even though my body was anything but that.
“Is that right?”
“Yes. That’s right. You want to pretend like you don’t feel what is happening between us. You want to make it all about sex. Your words may say that, but your actions contradict everything that comes out of your filthy mouth. You’ve been watching me for years, keeping me safe. Then you saved me. Now I’m here where I’m safe again. You want me to rest, you’re concerned about me. You’re protecting me. You—”
“Did I fuck that woman last night for you, too?”
That was like taking a bullet to the fucking heart. It would have shattered if it hadn’t already the night before.
“Don’t get it twisted, Lexi. This is how it’s going to be. You’re going to stay here until I tell you it’s safe for you to go. Then you’re going to leave. There’s nothing here for you, especially me. Because trust me, sweetheart. I will make you leave.”
“But I’m here now,” I whispered, fidgeting with my fingers under the sheets. “Because you want me here. I don’t need to be here. I’ve been protecting myself my entire life. You don’t know what I’ve been through, so people who in live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. I made a mistake, and I trusted someone I shouldn’t have. It’s why I don’t let people get close to me. I should have known better. And even though I shouldn’t trust you, I do,” I paused, letting my words sink in. “I know somewhere deep inside you, lies a man who had a good heart once. Or I wouldn’t be laying here. I think you lost your way, and now you’re just trying to find your feet on the ground.”
Silence.
Each second of stillness that passed between us made me realize I was right, and he knew it.
“You leave me by myself because you don’t want to get close to me. But it’s backfired on you, because all I have time to do is to think. You don’t trust anyone, including yourself. Why would you bring a random woman back here? It didn’t make any sense, until I got to thinking today. You fucked her last night to hurt me, to prove to me that you don’t care about me. Well, you succeeded, I spent the entire night hurting, exactly the way you wanted me to. You wanted me to hate you. It makes it easier on you. Am I getting warmer, Alejandro?”
I turned, stepping out of the bed carefully, before I lost the nerve. Walking over to him in the darkness, crouching down in front of him, placing my arms on his thighs for support.
He didn’t move.
He didn’t tense.
He didn’t make one sound.
Knowing he could see me, even if I couldn’t see him. I peered up to the faint shadow of his handsome face and sinful green eyes, knowing in my heart there was more emotion evident on his expression than there had been in years.