Total pages in book: 172
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
He laughed. Actually laughed. It might have sounded a little rusty, but it was definitely a laugh. He liked her. He liked being with her.
“You don’t have to take care of my car for me, Sevastyan. I can do it, although I appreciate you volunteering. I was procrastinating. You’ll find I do that. Not anything to do with work. That’s what will frustrate you the most about me. I tend to get everything done to the smallest detail with work and the people I’m trying to help, but once I come home and need to take care of my own things, I put it off all the time. You’ll want to pull out your hair— or mine. I miss important appointments like doctor appointments all the time, and you know how hard it is to get in with a shifter doc.”
He frowned down at her. “You miss doctor appointments?”
She nodded. “All the time. They even charge me for my missed appointments.” She sighed. “Nothing helps. I just can’t seem to be bothered to remember my own things once I get home after taking care of everyone else.”
“That will change. I have my ways to make certain you do the things in our household that need to be done—especially those that pertain to your care.”
Her eyes widened. “You do? You have your ways? You have ways?”
He nodded with deliberate slowness and paced around her chair with a leopard’s prowling gait. The silence stretched between them, tension heightening suddenly, all raw sexuality.
“Are you going to tell me what those ways are?” She turned her head to follow him as he circled behind her.
“I prefer to let you find out when the time comes. According to what you just told me, you often neglect your important appointments. If that is true, it won’t take long before you find out just how I deal with my errant woman when she doesn’t take care of her health.”
She laughed and drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair. “I guess I’ll have to figure out inventive ways to take care of my errant man when he doesn’t take care of his health. I’m fairly certain you don’t even know what a doctor is.”
Sevastyan laughed. “The women in my family are going to love you, Flambé. Let’s go out and grab something for dinner. We can stop on the way home and pick up whatever you need from your house and bring it back here.”
For the first time she looked uncomfortable. A shadow moved across her face and she shifted slightly in the chair. “I shouldn’t stay here, Sevastyan. I think it’s like pouring salt into the wound. At least study Matherson before you make up your mind. I can forward all the research I’ve done on him to you. I’m very thorough and I’ve dug up quite a bit.”
“Then you should know you aren’t safe.”
She looked down at her hands. “I honestly didn’t think he would really make so blatant a move on me here in the States. I should have known better. The road out here isn’t very well traveled. He must have been able to get into my phone to know I was on my way here.”
“The two appointments you cancelled?” he prompted. “Did Franco have anything to do with them?”
The color crept up her neck and into her face. “My leopard introduced herself with a vengeance. I didn’t dare walk out the door. One moment I was perfectly fine and the next I was all over the place. It was really terrifying being that out of control.”
Sevastyan could hear the underlying fear in her voice. She was struggling to maintain. As a rule, Flambé was a confident woman, but between Matherson and her newly emerging leopard, she was off-balance.
“That’s understandable. A leopard in heat can be difficult for any female, even one expecting it. We’ll get you through her emergence.” He poured confidence into his voice. “But, baby, you know you have to stay close to me, not only in case Matherson tries again but in case your leopard rises. Shturm isn’t going to stand for a separation any more than I am.”
He crouched down in front of her, his hands on her knees. “I know you’re nervous. This is the last thing you expected. I’m a stranger to you. I swear, Flambé, we’ll go as slow as the leopards allow us. There are plenty of bedrooms. You can choose one a distance from mine and stick a gun under your pillow if you’re worried I’m going to try to break down the door.”
“I doubt a gun under my pillow would stop you, but okay, I’ll stay here with you.”
He cupped the side of her face gently with his palm and slid the pad of his thumb over the bruise at the side of her mouth. His gaze dwelled on the lump in her hair. “This looks bad.”