Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
He let out a groan. “Stop looking at me like that or you’ll find yourself soaking wet on the bed and my cock deep inside you before you can even blink.”
Her cheeks warmed at his words. “You promise?”
With an eye roll, he picked up the large, fluffy bath towel she’d laid out and held it open. Rising, she let the water sluice over her skin, doing her best not to give in to impulse to shake it off like a wet dog.
She took his extended hand and let him aid her, stepping out of the tub carefully so as not to slip on the flooring. Once he’d wrapped her in the bath sheet, he began to pat her with his hands, letting the towel absorb the water as he rubbed it against her skin.
She closed her eyes and enjoyed being pampered but her thoughts from earlier came back to her. “Remy?”
“What is it?” he asked in a gruff voice.
The tone let her know he was as aroused as her, but she had more important things to concentrate on. “I heard you and Dex talking in the family room.”
His hands stopped moving and she opened her eyes to meet his gaze. “How much did you hear?”
“Why didn’t you ever mention you’d been married?” she asked. She’d met Remy a little over two years ago and only knew him as a fun man who enjoyed dating. She’d also never seen him in a serious relationship. And in all that time, his past with other women never came up.
“Why don’t you come to bed and we’ll talk?” he suggested, and she nodded.
He walked out of the bathroom, leaving her to finish drying off. She pulled on his T-shirt. The one she never planned on giving back.
A few minutes later, she joined him in bed and she sat cross-legged, facing him. She waited for him to speak.
“I’m not sure where to start,” he said. “So much of my past is tied up in my mother’s murder.” A muscle ticked in his jaw and he didn’t meet her gaze, proof this conversation wasn’t easy for him. “I’d planned on going to business school and follow in my dad’s footsteps but once Mom was killed, becoming a cop was the only way I could channel the helpless feelings I had.”
“I understand,” she murmured, her heart aching for his pain.
He eyed her warily. “If you heard Dex and I talk about my ex, you must also have heard us discuss my penchant for ending up with women who needed me.” His frown and the light red stain on his cheekbones told her the admission embarrassed him.
She inclined her head. “I did overhear that, too. I didn’t listen on purpose, at least not at first, but when I realized you two should finish your conversation, I… couldn’t walk away.”
“I’m not angry with you. I get it. And I wouldn’t say I was hiding my past. I just don’t think about it anymore.” He lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “I married my ex a short time after we met. She was the victim of a mugging and she’d been stabbed, too.”
Raven’s hand came to her mouth. “I’m sorry.” She lowered her arm, twisting her hands together in her lap.
“She needed me and I guess I liked being needed.”
Raven stiffened because this was the hard part. “Is that why we’re together?” she asked, recalling Dex said something similar. “Like Dex said, my past was a mystery to you. Then my place was broken into. Now you’re keeping me safe, and that’s what drives you, right? Keeping women safe?”
He shook his head, his lips lifting in a grin. “You know better. You must have heard me tell Dex you’re different, and you are. In every way.” His hands slid over hers and held on tight but instead of feeling better, the sad truth of her life intruded and though she’d initiated this conversation, it had gotten too deep.
“It doesn’t matter.” She pulled her hands out of his. “I’m never going to be free of Lance. I know it and so do you. He and Cassandra will do whatever they have to in order to keep him out of jail and he’ll never give up on his obsession with me.”
She lifted a pillow and pulled it into her lap, pressing it against the pain in her stomach. Because no matter how Remy felt about her, she couldn’t let herself go and admit to feeling the same way. Because if this situation with Lance went on much longer, she’d have no choice but to run. To go somewhere he couldn’t find her.
“I shouldn’t have asked you about your marriage. It has nothing to do with me.” She placed the pillow back in its spot and lay down, facing away from him.
He didn’t reply but she heard the bedsheets rustle and soon he lay behind her and pulled her into his arms. He didn’t say a word but she settled in the comfort and safety of his arms, and was able to relax.