Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 138334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
There was the continual flurry of feet and fur pushing through the vegetation, the leaves and twigs that covered the floor of the swamp. Rats, voles, and numerous other rodents foraging for food and trying to stay under cover as they did so. To Gedeon, the sounds were loud and added to the symphony he heard playing.
“Love this, Lotus. Just lying in bed with you like this, listening to the swamp. Slayer’s never been happier. I’ve never been happier. We’re in a good place, aren’t we? Tell me you’re good.”
Because after what he’d gotten himself into—not himself. This was no longer about Gedeon. This was Gedeon and Meiling together.
There was silence. A long one. Ordinarily, he would have raised his gaze to meet hers to get the lay of the land, so to speak. She wasn’t the best at hiding her expressions from him. He thought it more prudent to just lie still and feel her fingers moving through his hair as long he could.
“Does that question have anything to do with the strange text I received from Evangeline a few minutes ago?”
His heart stuttered. He hadn’t given his answer. He hadn’t had time to broach the subject with Meiling. He didn’t know how he felt about the things Drake Donovan had spoken to him about.
“What strange text?”
“All of sudden you want to share?”
Her tone was mild. Sweet even. But he winced all the same. They weren’t prone to fighting. Meiling didn’t throw tantrums. She wasn’t moody unless Whisper was in heat. She was accommodating, usually following his lead or telling him what she’d like to do decisively. She wasn’t the kind of woman to pick a fight for no reason.
Her fingers were still moving in his hair. Gentle. The way she did when she was loving on him. “Do you have something you want to tell me, Gedeon?”
“If I wanted to tell you, Lotus, I would have shared already. I’m still working out in my head how to say it.” He blurted it out. Yeah. That was him being a dumbass. He kept telling himself he was evolving, but when push came to shove and he did something he knew she wasn’t going to like, he fell back on the old ways and acted like a complete idiot.
Her fingers stopped moving in his hair—a really bad sign. He turned over to lie on his side, propping up his head with his hand so he could look at her expression when they talked. He would need to know what she was thinking. She wasn’t good at hiding her emotions from him.
“We talked about getting out of the business numerous times,” he opened with. They had. Meiling often initiated the conversation.
Her eyelashes fluttered. That lower lip of hers drew his instant attention when she sucked it into the side of her mouth and bit down with her small white teeth. He couldn’t help cupping the side of her face. Looking at Meiling meant touching her. That was just the way it was. He ran his thumb over the full curve of her lower lip, gliding over the spot where she had bit down for that one little moment.
“You seemed opposed to the idea, Gedeon,” she reminded.
He had been opposed. She knew he wasn’t someone to sit around idle. He needed to be busy. He wasn’t the kind of man to take orders from someone else either.
“I’m not good at sitting around twiddling my thumbs, baby, you know that about me.” He watched her carefully. As he did, he thought about what Bolin Wang had said about once taking a path and then not being able to get off it. Was it time to get off what he’d started? He’d accomplished a lot of good working the jobs he’d done, but he’d seen a lot of really bad shit. “I’m not stuck specifically on continuing with what I’ve been doing.”
As for prepping her for the talk of what their future might hold, he didn’t think he was doing a very good job. She must not have either, not with the look on her face. He didn’t like that look. He’d never seen it before and couldn’t interpret it.
“I know Drake Donovan has dropped by several times and spoken to you privately. You always tell me what’s said in any private meeting, but you didn’t after he talked with you. That’s unusual. I waited. I was patient. Now I assume he was offering you a job with his company.”
Gedeon cursed under his breath. Meiling. Too damn smart for her own good. They’d promised to have open communication. Tell each other everything. He sighed.
“It’s a lot more complicated than that, Meiling, or I would have told you about it right away. I don’t know exactly how I even feel about it.” He sat up and ran both hands through his hair, the beginnings of a headache touching both temples.