Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Did you get fries?” I ask, as I sink below the surface until the bubbles hit my chin.
“Each kind.”
“Chocolate something?”
“Mousse and cake.”
“You’re forgiven,” I say, just before I sink below the surface of the water.
When I resurface, he’s standing beside the tub, naked. It isn’t fair how gorgeous his hard, golden body is. I half forget why I was mad at him.
He joins me.
“This tub’s big enough for a barge,” he mutters, as he sinks into the hot water with me. “Fuck, that feels good.”
I reach for his hand. I can’t help myself.
“Yeah,” I say with a nod. “I may fall asleep. Don’t let me drown. Start talking, please.”
As he talks, he strokes my back. “Dip your head into the water again.” I obey. He takes my hair in his hands and pours shampoo into his palm, beginning to lather my hair as he talks.
“You watched the video?”
“I did.”
“So you know I began hunting the men who hurt you the first day we found you.”
I shiver and nod. It feels so good as his strong fingers work the shampoo into my hair.
“I do.”
“When Ricco needed a favor, it was my opportunity. I went undercover to repay a favor to the cartel, but I didn’t know I’d be taken prisoner. When I was there, I found out everything I needed. Manuel Rodriguez was the last piece of the puzzle.”
I nod. “You killed them.”
He rinses my hair and I reach for a bar of soap. His eyes momentarily widen when I don’t lather myself but instead lather him.
“I did. It took a very, very long time to find them all and even longer to find ways of executing them without blowback to my family.”
As the warm water laps against my skin and I stroke his back, the exhaustion from the evening begins to ebb away.
“You did that for…for me,” I whisper.
Timeo slowly lowers my hand into the water. He turns to face me. “I did it for you, Starla. Because I love you. And I want you to be safe.”
I blink back tears. “I don’t want any more secrets between us, Timeo. Because I love you, too.”
My head begins to clear. I breathe in the cleansing warmth of the steam that rises from the bath. “Is it over now?”
He reaches for my chin and raises my eyes to his. “We’re so close, baby,” he says before he leans in and kisses me. “Tonight, Rodriguez lies dead. But even though he was the last piece of the puzzle, it turns out he wasn’t the end of the chain.”
My heart begins to beat a little faster.
There’s a reason Timeo insisted the two of us come here alone tonight.
“Oh?”
“I got his phone, Starla. No one knows yet that Rodriguez is dead. Fern’s been taken captive and the rest of his men taken prisoner. Rodriguez was reporting to someone. And he’s been in direct contact with his superior since he left jail. The last message he sent was five minutes ago.”
I stare at him. But Rodriguez is—“You sent it?”
“I did.”
I straddle Timeo in the tub. I stare into his eyes. “What does this mean?”
“I’m going to hunt him down, baby. The man behind it all. The puppeteer. The one who ran the show at the fellowship. I’m going to end him, once and for all. And no one, no one, will ever hurt you again.”
My head spins.
Timeo did it all…for me.
He was held hostage. Beaten. Willing to put up with his family’s belief that he was a traitor. Willing to let me think he was a traitor.
All for me. But there’s only one problem.
“Timeo…I can’t ever thank you for all you’ve done. I can’t tell you how much your protection has meant to me. I’m safe because of you. I sleep well at night because of you. And I love that you want to finish the job. But I’m the one who was abused and tormented. I…I need to be a part of this.”
Timeo frames my face in his hands and holds my gaze.
“I get that. Do you trust me?”
It isn’t the first time he’s asked me this, but the answer to that question has never had more weight.
“I do,” I whisper. “I trust you with my life, Timeo.”
He leans in and brushes his lips to mine. Hope surges in my heart, even as I fear what he’ll say next.
“I have a new plan.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Timeo
My biggest fear in all of this was losing Starla.
I feared that she’d find out bits and pieces of what I’ve done and turn away from me because I’m a murderer.
She didn’t. Her eyes shone with love for me.
I feared she’d conclude I betrayed my family and her, that I’d turned traitor.
She doesn’t now. She knows who I am and said she trusts me with her life.
There’s both freedom and gravity in knowing you’re in love with a woman who not only trusts you with her life but is willing to give you everything.