Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
“House is over here!” Levi called from the porch. “In case you got lost.”
“Levi!” Marissa whisper-scolded. “Leave them be! Just because you don’t believe in love doesn’t mean everyone has to be miserable.”
Champ and I broke apart, and the second he let me go, I moved away from him. My heart was beating double time, and my hands were oddly shaky.
“No, no, Levi’s right.” I pressed a hand to my stomach. “No time for dillydallying with these invitations to get out. Let me grab the samples from my trunk.”
“Marissa, if you’ll get me a key to the house,” Champ said, “I’ll go home and start packing now. That way, we can move our stuff in immediately. Oh, and I should have asked earlier. You don’t mind if I bring my dog, do you?”
“Not at all!” Marissa said happily. “I—”
“Tomorrow afternoon is plenty soon enough, Mr. Champion,” Levi interrupted, like the giant wet blanket he was. “We’ll all move in tomorrow.”
“All?” Marissa repeated, squinting up at him. “I don’t recall inviting you.”
“I’m here as your security,” Levi countered. “Ask your father.”
“You went to my dad?” Outrage made her voice a high-pitched screech. “After I specifically said—”
“I didn’t tell him about my other concerns, or he would have put a stop to the whole thing.” He shot a look at me and then at Champ. “But I told him I wanted to be out here to keep you safe. And I don’t regret it.”
“I thought you weren’t assigned to protect Marissa,” Champ said mildly.
“I wasn’t,” Levi shot back. “But with all these unvetted contractors around, out here, far from town? Mr. Drakes agreed, it’s a risk.”
“God forbid I get to make my own choices and take normal risks like a normal person,” Marissa muttered. “Whatever. I’ll ask the staff to prepare three rooms.” She rolled her eyes like this was the biggest inconvenience she could imagine.
“Actually, make that four,” I blurted as an absolutely brilliant plan occurred to me—a plan that would not only help us achieve the goal of keeping Marissa and Levi apart but give me a snowball’s chance in hell of actually managing to keep my sanity around Percival Champion.
“Four?” three voices repeated.
“Marissa, you were so convincing when you talked about your, um, virginity pact until the wedding that, ah…” I swallowed past a lump in my throat. “I decided that Champ and I should do the same. For romance.” I met Champ’s confused blue eyes and announced, “Sorry, Cornflower. No nookie until the wedding. I knew you’d understand.”
Champ’s eyes flared in surprise and something like hurt before cooling into a challenging look that seared right through me. “Of course, Butter Buns. Aren’t you the sweetest, always trying to improve our relationship? I agree.”
Oh, fuck. Why did his agreement make my stomach swoop nearly as much as his closeness a moment ago had?
His smile was the most mischievous, teasing thing I’d ever seen in my life, but Marissa and Levi were looking at us—her with an encouraging smile and him with outright suspicion—so I let Champ pull me into a brief, supportive side-hug. He leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek.
“What the fuck was that?” he muttered as he nuzzled my neck.
“I made an executive decision for the good of the mission. Go with it,” I whispered, quoting his words from earlier. Served him right to be on the receiving end of someone else’s monkey wrench for once.
“Oh, I will,” he promised. “No nookie until you ask for it, Shortcake.” Then he whispered in my ear, low and hot enough to make me shiver, “Until you beg for it.”
10
CHAMP
I left the farm in a dangerous mood while Quinn was still busy with Marissa.
Things weren’t going my way with this investigation, which usually meant I needed to dig deeper and work harder. I needed to fucking think, and in order for me to think, I needed to purge my brain of Quinn for at least five damned minutes, which should have been easy but instead proved impossible.
Why the hell had I asked him to dinner? I had no need to share dinner with that man. None.
And what the fuck was that revirgination stunt? It wasn’t like we were actually together. If he wanted to stop fucking, he just had to say so.
My hands clenched on the steering wheel as I thought of the way his eyes turned cloudy when we—
Nope.
What I needed to do was focus on the job. I had to learn more about the break-in attempt at Tommy Drakes’s house that Levi had mentioned. It might have been a simple coincidence, but it could also mean that the cartel had put the pieces together like Vince had, knew Tommy Drakes had the Horn, and were trying to test his security.
Frankly, it was what I would have done.