Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
But I can do this. I must.
“I’ll handle it.” Standing, I brush the crumbs off my scrubs.
“He’s injured.”
“Injured how?” My breath sputters. “What happened?”
“Bar fight. He has a deep cut on his head and refuses to let anyone treat him. He’s demanding that you do it.”
“Where is he?”
“Exam room three.” He opens the door. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” Pulse racing, I follow him out and hurry to the ER.
Leo sits on the hospital bed, his intense gaze locking onto mine. I close the curtain, and the tension between us crackles, spitting static across my skin.
Blood trickles down his face from a deep gash along his hairline. He looks ferocious. Brutally beautiful.
Goosebumps spread across my flesh, awakening my senses.
He holds out his hand.
If I take it, he’ll yank me between those powerful thighs and kiss me until I beg for his cock.
I’m not stupid.
“Frankie,” he rumbles, low and demanding. “Come here.”
“You need medical attention.” I turn toward the supply cart.
“I need you,” he snaps, frustration boiling over. “Just you.”
“Lie down so I can clean that wound.”
He obeys, lying back on the table with a wince. I gather the necessary supplies, my hands shaking as I approach him.
“Tell me what happened.” I gently clean the wound, working quickly and efficiently despite the turmoil inside me.
His eyes burn, a pair of multicolored blades, tracking my every move. “I went to a bar.”
“Kody’s?”
“No.”
“And?”
“The women wouldn’t leave me in peace. So I voiced my thoughts about it.”
“You did the growly thing and scared them?”
“Sure. Whatever. Some of the guys didn’t like that. They struck first, and I needed to blow off some steam.”
“Is this gash from a beer bottle?” I finish cleaning the area.
“Yeah.”
“What condition are they in?”
“Worse than me. And drunk.”
“How are you not in jail?”
“Self-defense. Six against one. The cops let me walk.”
“Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“No.”
Six men attacked him? And he only has one cut?
Fuck.
As I prepare to give him a local anesthetic, he grips my arm.
“No numbing,” he says. “I need to feel this.”
“Why?”
“Need to feel your hands on me.”
My chest squeezes and cracks.
With blurry, wet vision, I focus on the task. Neither of us speaks while I stitch the deep cut. But his eyes never leave mine. Not once.
Finished, I set the supplies aside. Then I give him what he really came here for.
I place my hands on the sharp edges of his face and slide them to his ears, his neck, and into his hair. Bending, I drag my nose along his and nuzzle him.
He loosens a rough exhale and wraps a muscled arm around me, hauling me onto the bed, right on top of his prone body.
So much for changing the locks on my heart.
Relaxing my weight, I rest my head on his shoulder and breathe in his manly garage and cedar scent.
When he says nothing, I go first.
“I’m sorry.”
He waits, his silence uncharacteristically patient.
“I touched Monty’s chest, his stomach, and he kissed me. I didn’t kiss him back. I didn’t push him away, either. I didn’t stop him.”
“You wanted to kiss him.”
“Yes, but not without you. I don’t want him without you, and I don’t want to exclude him.” My throat burns. “In a perfect world, all four of us are together.”
“That’s your perfect world.”
“How is it not yours? You have a relationship with him. It’s not like your bond with Kody, but it can be. It can be whatever you let it be. I’ve seen the love among the three of you. I’m not asking you to share me with someone you despise. If you replay the past five months you’ve spent with him, is there any part you hated? Does he make you miserable? He put a roof over your head, helped you pursue your dreams, bought you yachts and motorcycles, and—”
“I know, Frankie.” His jaw flexes against my head. “I fucking know. I owe him everything, but I will not give you up as payment.”
“No one is asking you to do that.”
“He is. Maybe not as payment, but that’s what he wants.”
“Change his mind.”
He barks an incredulous laugh.
“Have you seen him?” I ask. “Talked to him?”
“We talk over text.”
“About?”
“Your safety. The investigation. The search for the cabin.”
The guards keep me updated on that. There’s been no progress. No contact from my stalker or The Ghost. With Sirena’s disappearance, the scouting mission in the Arctic has been put on hold.
“I’m sorry for what I said that night.” He turns his head, pressing a kiss to my brow. “I know you haven’t been fucking around with him. I know what we walked in on was an unintentional moment. Your hands were at your sides. Your back was to the wall. Your lips were closed. You weren’t pursuing him. He was pursuing you.”
“Don’t villainize him. He never forced me, and I wanted to kiss him back.”
“I know. He loves you. Who can blame him?”