Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 112069 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112069 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Again.
Chapter Five
Remy
Violet’s antics in the water should have had me smiling, but fuck if I could manage to do anything but stare at her in silence. I’d long ago given up on trying to wash her with the washcloth I’d found in the closet. She was just having way too much fun slapping her hands in the water to deny her that.
Not after everything she’d been through.
“Do you like the water, baby girl?” I murmured. Her answer came in the form of a loud laugh followed by a heavy slap on the water which sent sprays of the warm liquid all over my face and shirt. “I guess so,” I mused.
Those few minutes of watching Ronan examine Violet had been the worst of my life, and I still had no idea how I’d managed to keep up the Scooby voice long enough to entertain the toddler. I’d been as close to tears as I’d ever been, and my only comfort had been in knowing Luca was standing behind me, watching… protecting.
Only he hadn’t been.
I’d felt that loss keenly and I’d hated myself for it. I’d hated him too. But when Ronan had declared that Violet was unharmed beyond the dirt that caked her small body, I’d practically snatched her off the bed and gone in search of Luca to tell him the news.
Why?
I had no clue.
It’d been that same strange, inevitable need I’d felt when I’d known I needed to enter Ronan’s house but hadn’t been able to take the first step forward. It’d been exactly like that day so long ago…
“No,” I ground out to stop myself from even thinking about that day. Violet stopped splashing and looked at me with what I could only classify as wary eyes.
“Sorry, baby girl,” I quickly said as I reached out to stroke her hair. Luckily, she didn’t pull away from me. “But where has all the rum gone?” I quickly said in my best Jack Sparrow voice. Despite the toddler having never seen Pirates of the Caribbean, she had a thing for my Jack Sparrow voice and it never failed me.
Today was no different.
More water splashed all over me, the bathtub walls, and the floor as Violet began laughing for all she was worth.
I heard the door open behind me and automatically said, “I’m sorry, Ronan, I’ll clean up all the water, I promise—”
My voice dropped off abruptly when I saw that it wasn’t Ronan standing behind me at all. My belly did this weird flip-flop thing even as anger began to heat my blood. I turned my attention back to Violet. The little girl’s eyes stayed trained on the man standing behind me. Her hands were still dabbling in the water, but she was clearly more fascinated with Luca now.
The silence in the small room became a living thing.
“Uh, Ronan has some clothes here for—”
“Me-me!” Violet called, then she was extending her arms. I thought she wanted me to pick her up, but when I reached for her, she shook her head and squirmed away from me. Her eyes were still on Luca.
“Is this what you want, honey?” Luca asked as he crouched next to me. A shiver ran down my spine when his big body brushed mine.
Don’t get comfortable. Don’t get comfortable. I repeated the phrase over and over, even after he dropped to his knees.
Luca handed Violet a baby bottle that she immediately began drinking from almost nonstop. It was all I could do to keep my eyes on the child instead of the man beside me.
“I wasn’t leaving,” Luca murmured after a moment.
“I don’t care,” I responded before I could think better of it.
Silence. I needed to use silence as my weapon against him. Why couldn’t I just remember that?
“When Ronan started examining her like that, I just—”
“I don’t care,” I repeated firmly. This time I looked at him as I spoke. I swore I saw a hint of some emotion that was just a little off-putting before his face hardened into a cold mask of nothingness.
No, not a mask… this was who he really was. All the facades I’d seen up until now… the gentle interactions with Violet, his seemingly protective behavior as he’d been helping me get Violet out of the warehouse… that’d been an act. He’d done a good job of not letting those masks slip… until now.
I waited for him to get up and leave, expected him to. But he didn’t move. At least, not at first.
But when he did, it wasn’t to leave.
I flinched when he reached for my hand but managed not to pull away. But it wasn’t my hand he was going for. I held my breath as he took the washcloth from me and dipped it in the water before wringing it out. “Come here, sweetheart. Looks like Me-me missed a spot,” Luca said softly as he reached for Violet. His long arms meant she didn’t actually need to move for him to get to her. I waited for her to protest the contact, but instead, she dabbled her fingers in and out of the water. At some point, Luca had rolled his sleeves up, so I could see his bare arms.