Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 45371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
“I’ll call Dad,” she murmurs. “We need the money. We’ll be homeless otherwise, but you have to do something for me as well as the private detective stuff.”
I smirk. “Is it strange I like it when you make demands?”
She smiles in response. I find myself thinking about the rest of our lives, how it would be a good way to live, trying to get my woman to smile, each one a gift. The romantic clashes with the beast. Both are as eager as the other, as fierce, as hungry.
“Look into Dad’s finances,” Bonnie mutters. “I think he might be gambling again. I don’t want him to get the rent money and then blow it straightaway.”
I nod. “That’s fair. I’ll do that.”
“Then I’ll stay,” she replies. “It doesn’t mean I’m your personal slave, though.”
“You’re my personal virgin,” I tell her.
But you won’t stay that way for long.
I almost say it, but then she looks down at the table, both cheeks turning a pink shade so bright it’s almost red.
“You still haven’t told me anything about you and dad. You were friends, okay, I get that. But what happened? Why have I never met you? Why has dad never mentioned you?”
“We had a falling out,” I say, hating that I can’t share the truth.
If she learned what really happened to her mother…
“About my line of work,” I say, which is true, but it’s not the whole truth.
“Dad didn’t agree with it?”
“No,” I tell her. “Even when I explained I was doing everything I could to keep the city safe, to stop the other crime organizations from taking hold. I’ve worked hard for years to rid this city of sex traffickers and drug dealers, but none of that meant a damn thing to Cameron.”
Because of Isla. Because of the choice I made.
“So, how do you make your money,” she says, “if you’re the leader of this crime organization?”
I almost answer, but my old instincts kick in. I’m almost certain Bonnie isn’t working for the police, but when I really look at that notion and study this certainty, I realize I have no basis for it other than how I feel. Other than simply, insanely, trusting her.
“Let’s not talk about this over dinner,” I say.
“Nice subject change,” she murmurs. “I guess you only ever tell your other—”
“Bonnie,” I growl. “You need to stop saying that. You need to stop even thinking about it. There aren’t any other women. I haven’t been with a woman in…”
“In what? Days?”
“In over a decade,” I snarl, leaping to my feet, causing Archie to whine and tilt his head up at me.
She’s driving me closer and closer to the admission, to the truth of what she makes me feel. She’s driving me so close to the edge I almost roar it all out right here.
She gasps, staring up. Whether the shock comes from my sudden volcanic eruption or from what I shared, I don’t know.
“You can finish without me,” I say gruffly, turning and walking into the house.
I march through the house, knowing I can’t fight this need forever. Knowing I’ll have to tell her how I feel and what she means to me, eventually.
Cameron has already made me lie to her. What was he thinking, withholding the truth for all these years?
Taking out my cellphone, I call Malcolm. “Look into Cameron Wilson. I need to know if he’s gambling.”
“Will do, boss.”
Hanging up, I lean against the wall, letting out a shaky breath. I never lose my cool like that, but Bonnie brings it out in me.
CHAPTER NINE
Bonnie
I lie in bed in the middle of the night, wearing the new PJs waiting for me when I return from dinner. I sat out there, eating my steak, trying to figure out why Blake flipped so fiercely. He seems to hate it when I mention his other women. I enjoyed pushing his buttons at first, but when he jumped to his feet, I knew I’d gone too far.
Why does he care so much? It could be because there’s some truth in there. He wants to protect his secret playboy lifestyle. He doesn’t want me to discover the truth—that he has estates all over the state housing women, kidnapping them, using them, tricking them with laughter and smiles and tender touches into believing something more could happen.
Or it could be…
I sit up with a huff, thoughts torturing me. I can barely let myself think about it, but there’s a chance, isn’t there? A chance his rage could come because he doesn’t want me to believe he’d want anybody else. He only wants me. We’re enough for each other, and we always will be.
Earlier, one guard visited my room with a cellphone. I called Dad as he watched me, breezily telling him, “I volunteered. It’s a good deal, Dad. We won’t have to worry about bills, and Blake has even agreed to help with my private detective training.”