Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“I’m more than aware of that. I’ve got people watching them.” He turned her very, very gently and then pulled her into his arms, so that her head was resting against his chest. “They’re prepping for war.”
Her heart thudded hard and panic welled up, cutting off her air supply. “I can’t breathe.” She felt faint. She didn’t understand any of it. Why her father had chosen to rob a man as powerful and vindictive as Nikita Bogomolov. Why they had spared her mother and her. Why he’d forced her mother to sleep with him. Why her mother had let her believe the Bogomolovs were good people. Why had Sasha pretended to marry her? Or maybe actually married her. How could she be getting others killed when she hadn’t done anything at all other than be her father’s daughter?
Joshua reached past her to turn off the shower. He wrapped her in a towel and dried her off. “Nothing is going to happen to you. I swear to you, I’ll protect you.”
She had to know. She had to know who to believe. “I need the truth from you, even if it means you’re going to have to kill me because I know. Did you take over Rafe Cordeau’s territory?” She needed him to say it again. To lay it out for her in black and white. “Are you in the mob? Did I somehow get mixed up with the things you told me?”
She sank down onto the edge of the bed, looking up at him as he dried off his body. Her gaze didn’t stray down to look at all that muscle, at the hard length of him she loved. Her eyes stayed fixed to his.
“I took over Cordeau’s territory, and yes, I am technically part of the mob.”
She swallowed hard. He hadn’t even blinked. He’d looked right into her eyes. There was no feel of a threat, or regret. Just honesty. She took a breath, gulping in air when her throat closed.
“There’s more to it than that, and you didn’t give me the chance to tell you. It’s complicated, but it’s a life I no longer can get out of. I tried to explain it, but you…” He rubbed the towel through his hair. “Understandably, you couldn’t hear what I was saying.”
“So, say it again.” She couldn’t leave. She didn’t want to listen, but she didn’t want to think he would sell her out to the Bogomolovs. This was Joshua, the man she’d spent night after night with, lying on the bed, talking about everything and nothing. Laughing. She’d never done that with Sasha. Sasha had treated her gently, carefully, but he’d rarely spent time with her, not even in the bedroom.
“Get dressed, baby. You’re distracting sitting there with all that beautiful skin. I can barely control myself when you’re covered up. It’s impossible when you’re sitting on a bed with your body tempting mine.”
That was Joshua. He sounded sincere, as if he really couldn’t look at her without needing to touch her. He made her feel beautiful and wanted. She’d loved Sasha, and she knew now, it was a love that had nothing to do with an adult woman loving an adult man. She still loved Sasha. He’d been her best friend and confidant. He’d smoothed out every rocky road. He’d never made her feel as if he couldn’t wait to touch her. She’d been the one to ask him why he didn’t want her in the bedroom. He’d always insisted he did, and he’d make love to her, but then he’d go away – for weeks at a time. Joshua made her feel alive and vibrant. Wanted. Needed even.
“Baby” – he cupped her face with his hand, his thumb sliding over her skin – “don’t look so sad. I swear to you, I would never harm you or allow anyone else to. You’re mine. You gave yourself to me. You told me you loved me. I gave myself to you. All of me. Please have an open mind. Please.”
She stared into his eyes and wanted desperately to believe him. That face. That voice. Those eyes. If his eyes were windows to his soul, right now his soul was shattered.
“The Bogomolovs know where you are through an accident. An accident. I didn’t tell them. I wouldn’t have wanted them to know, because I intend to kill them. Knowing you’re alive gives them a slight advantage because they’ll find out fast enough I have something to lose.”
She slipped away from him because the temptation to let herself get lost in sex was fairly high. She had to make sense of everything. Pulling a T-shirt over her head, she shimmied into a pair of jeans while he did the same. He held out his hand to her. She hesitated a heartbeat. Two. It was impossible to not take his hand, not when his blue-green eyes were so compelling. He closed his fingers around hers and led her out of the room, downstairs to the great room.