Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
“Nash—” There’s a slight tremor in her voice.
I lift my head and slide my hands higher until I’m cupping her face. She’s mine. She’s meant to belong to me and only me. I can feel it deep in my gut.
Before I can claim her mouth in a kiss, the sound of splintering wood fills the cabin. It takes me a full three seconds to register that my door is being kicked in. Both of them, actually.
I’ve never had a break-in, never had a reason to worry about one. But with Laura next to me, I suddenly have someone I would protect and defend with every breath in my body. That’s why I pull her into a crouch on the floor. My arms—hell, my whole body—goes around hers.
These intruders can take anything they want. I’ll even give them the combination to the safe for my shop in town where they’ll find a couple million in designer watches. But they can’t take my girl. I’ll never give her up.
“What the hell, Nash?” Trace’s voice is the first to register in my brain. He’s my friend who lives not too far down the road. He makes metal art that he welds together. He won’t brag about it, but I happen to know he’s in high demand by some of the wealthiest art collectors. Too bad he hides out and doesn’t let anyone know who he is. I suspect it has something to do with that limp of his, a childhood injury he never talks about.
I turn toward the sound of his voice. My own tone is indignant when I ask, “What are you doing here?”
“You sent a text message to the group that you’d found the intruder and stopped responding,” Roman answers, an edge of annoyance clear in his voice. It’s then I realize what this is. It’s not a break-in. It’s a rescue mission. My friends braved the snowstorm, thinking that I needed aid.
“So, these are your friends?” Laura asks and I can feel the tension bleeding from her muscles.
“These are friends,” I reassure her, not taking my arms from around her. She’s shaking, a slight tremor going through her body. I can’t explain it, but I can’t let her go. Not when she needs comfort and soothing. I’ll always be the man who does that. “That’s Trace by the back door and Roman is at the front.”
“Trace?” She asks then gives a soft chuckle that sounds relieved. “He’s the one that helps you sometimes.”
“Brennon and Blade are here too,” Roman announces. He owns a construction company that he started after he got out of prison. He’s the one I consulted on when I built this cabin, and I’m the one who convinced him to move out to Courage County.
Brennon grunts by way of greeting. A stroke took his ability to speak easily. He can communicate in small sentences sometimes. But when situations are stressful or urgent, it can be hard for him to grasp the right words.
He recently married after showing up at his brother’s wedding. He couldn’t stand the way his brother talked down to his soon-to-be bride, so Brennon punched him in the nose and took his bride for his own. Now, he spends his days chasing his wife around their cabin.
“Whelp, this is already turning into a slumber party,” Blade says. “I’m out. Call someone else if you girls need your hair braided.”
No doubt he’s eager to get back to his archery. Blade is a recent transfer to our mountain and there are only two things he cares about. Shooting arrows and drinking whiskey. The first is impressive because he only has one arm. The second is impressive because I’ve never found someone who could drink more. He’s built like a mountain himself and can drink all of us under the table.
Two sets of footsteps retreat from my cabin at the same time that Laura shivers in my arms. It pisses me off that she’s cold. It pisses me off even more that my friends were the cause of it. “What are you two chucklefucks going to do about this? You’ve taken my doors off in the middle of a fuckin’ blizzard.”
“Keep your shirt on, pretty boy. We’ll get it fixed,” Roman says. “This is kid’s stuff.”
“Right now,” I stress. The temperature inside the cabin is dropping rapidly. While I don’t mind the freeze, I can’t stand the idea that Laura and my guys are cold. That’s not acceptable to me.
“Yes, Dad,” Trace mocks.
I ignore him and pick Laura up. Despite her curvy frame, she’s easy for me to lift. She’s light and delicate, and I love the feeling of her huddled against my chest. Yeah, this curvy thief has taken more than my watch. She’s taken my heart, and the thing about it is that I don’t ever want it back. It’s hers for life.