Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Wow. Okay.
“You think you’ll ruin any chance with me?” she whispered. Yet he was still willing to do what was needed if it helped her.
That was some self-sacrificing bullshit.
Also, it was kind of sweet.
Maybe she had been hit on the head. Because she still didn’t understand why someone like him would want to be with her.
“You’re way out of my league,” she told him.
“No, I’m not,” he told her firmly. “It’s the other way around. You’re far too good for me.”
Was he blind?
“You’re perfect, precious girl. And if anyone says differently, you tell me. Including if it’s you who’s saying that. I’ll happily deal with them. And you.”
Her heart beat faster. She was both angry and intrigued.
Numb.
She tried to push everything down.
“Uh-uh, no more hiding.” He took hold of her chin and gave her a firm look. “That’s not happening.”
She sucked in a breath.
“I need to know what’s going on in that head of yours. Tell me.”
Maggie licked her lips. “This is a lot to think about.”
“I know. And you don’t have to decide what you want do about us right now. All you need to concentrate on is eating and sleeping and healing. Understand? That is all that matters right now. Your care.”
Dear Lord, the things he was saying . . . they were making her head swim.
“Come on. Let’s get you sitting.” He helped her sit up. His touch was careful so he didn’t hurt her bruised ribs. “You need to eat. From now on, every time you miss a meal, it’s going into your naughty girl book.”
“You . . . are you a Daddy Dom?” she asked instead of protesting his bossiness.
Truth is . . . she kind of needed it right now.
“I was once,” he told her. “I’m still going to note any naughtiness down in your book for Ian and Jack.”
“They won’t spank me.”
“There are other sorts of punishments. Have you ever been denied an orgasm?”
She gaped at him. He held up the sandwich, cocking an eyebrow. She reluctantly took a bite.
“Good girl. I’m worried about you. We all are. Ian and Jack love you, you know?”
What?
“And they don’t want to lose you. We don’t want to lose you.”
“I’m fine.” They loved her?
“Precious girl, you’re getting weaker by the day, you’re sinking more and more into that head of yours. Do not let those assholes win. Hear me?”
It became too much for her. That barrier started to crack.
“I’m scared.”
His head shot up, his eyes meeting hers. And his face softened. “Of what, precious girl? That they’ll grab you again?”
She nodded. “I thought I was going to die. They were barely feeding me. I had hardly any water. And they let me see their faces. They were going to kill me. Whenever I close my eyes, I can see her face. Nureel. The way she looked at me, it was like I was nothing.”
A sob escaped her.
“You are not nothing. Do you hear me?” he said fiercely. “You are beautiful, perfect, lovely, kind. And you are so fucking loved.”
She stared at him in shock.
He ran his hand over his face and she saw it was trembling. “I thought we’d lost you . . . that I had lost you and I never even got a chance to tell you how I feel about you. How much I care about you. I couldn’t sleep from worrying about you. Whether you were all right, if you were scared, or sick, or in pain. If you were needing us. And Ian and Jack were the same. They were lost, shells of themselves without you. They can’t function without you, precious girl. And now . . . I’m not going to let you just fade away. Even if I need to be the bad guy.”
His words broke through her shield and she let out a bigger sob that shook her entire body. Tears slid down her face. “I’m sorry. I’m s-sorry.”
For a moment, he looked devastated. Then he leaned in close, hugging her.
“It’s all right. Everything will be all right.”
Where was he going? Was he horrified by her display of emotion?
“Ian,” he called out.
Then Ian was there, pulling her onto his lap, holding her close. And she completely lost it.
Ian rocked his girl back and forth.
Fuck, he hated the sound of her tears. Of her pain.
But Jameson had been right. Someone needed to break her out of the shield she’d pulled around herself. She had been slowly fading away before their eyes.
He’d listened to everything Jameson said. Knew it had cost the other man to do that. He was doing what a good friend should. A brother. And the last of the anger Ian help toward him disappeared.
“Let it all out, Little girl. That’s it. All the fear and anger. You need to let it all go.”
“I don’t . . . I don’t like feeling like this.”