Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
I had to.
I knew it.
But that didn’t change the way I felt.
“You know we can’t, Cody.” It was the softest rejection that still clanged in our ears.
“Excuse me.” A voice came from the side.
I jolted out of the spell this woman had me under, turning to find an older woman written in sheer irritation as she waited to get to the potatoes I was blocking with the cart.
“Sorry,” Hailey rushed, flustered that we were so caught up in each other that we’d gotten lost to anything around us.
She grabbed the end of the cart and hauled me along as she hurried deeper into the store. She basically went to ignoring me as she grabbed the few things she needed.
Bread.
Steak.
Milk in the dairy section.
Five minutes later, she was heading up to the register and got in line.
I nudged her out of the way, loaded the items onto the belt, then dug into my back pocket to get my wallet so I could take out my card.
“What do you think you’re doing?” She whispered it again. Harsh even though it was quiet. It was the same thing she kept asking again and again.
It was a prudent question.
What in the ever-loving-fuck did I think I was doing? Whatever it was, apparently, I couldn’t stop.
I put my mouth to her ear. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m taking care of you.”
Because people who cared about someone took care of them.
In any way they could.
We loaded everything into two bags then I carried them out to my truck.
Hailey scrambled along at my side, trying to keep up with my long strides.
It was still hot out, just after five-thirty, the summer in full force.
I clicked the locks and the running lights flashed, and I opened the back passenger door and placed the bags on the floorboards.
Just as I was ducking out, the hairs lifted on the back of my neck as a bolt of awareness streaked through the atmosphere.
It covered me in a cloud of that same vile contempt that I’d been struck with last night when I’d felt Hailey’s fear from across our yards.
Only this time, it was directed at both of us.
Hailey must have felt it, too, because she froze where she was standing facing me.
She paled.
Gorgeous face going a pasty white.
Fear so distinct it clotted the air and weaved its way down to saturate my lungs.
Hatred spun me into disorder.
I couldn’t stomach that one person could have the power to put that look on her face.
I scanned the lot. It didn’t take me long to pinpoint where the source was coming from.
A little café down to the right where a few tables were situated under red umbrellas outside the front.
Pruitt sat at one of them, slung back like a pompous prick wearing a button-down and slacks. Sipping from a tiny cup that was likely a reflection of the size of his dick.
Even in the distance that separated us, there was no mistaking that his dark eyes seared into us.
Hailey was stock-still and staring my direction, not wanting to look over her shoulder to confirm that he was there.
Like she didn’t want to contemplate if he’d followed us here or if it was just bad fucking luck that we’d ended up in the same place.
It wasn’t like Hendrickson was all that big of a town. If he was sticking around, we were bound to cross paths, but I had a hunch this dickbag was going to be popping up from out of nowhere.
Only solution was getting this bastard out of here sooner. Giving him the damned clue that he wasn’t welcome here. That there was no fuckin’ chance that he could have her.
“Do you trust me?” I muttered, a secret between us.
Hailey hesitated for only one second before she gave.
“Yes.” The word was so tiny but still struck like a bomb in our atmosphere.
Maybe it was me who shouldn’t trust myself.
Because I could feel all my reasoning slip away when I wound my hand in the length of her braid and cinched it up tight.
Could feel the ground falling away when I looped my other arm around her waist.
Could feel all rational thought take flight when I spun her around so her back was to the truck and she was concealed by my body.
Becoming the shield between her and Pruitt that I’d promised her I would be.
I wanted to be.
Fuck, I wanted to be.
But the reason for it got distorted when I tugged her closer, became mangled and deformed when I inhaled her scent.
It left me altogether when I leaned down and captured her mouth with mine.
Sweet. Fucking. Heat.
Her eyes went wide for one shocked second before she melted into me when I wrapped my arm tighter around her and pulled her flush. She sighed into the kiss like it was the one thing in this world that could offer her respite.