Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Another grunt.
I was growing addicted to that sound.
“Don’t want to let you out of my sight, Tessa. Told you I would do everything and anything to protect you.”
“You already are,” I promised him.
He slipped his palm around to the back of my neck. “I can’t take the risk of something happening to you.”
Desperation filled his voice.
“We won’t let it.” My words were short and heavy with the belief.
Adoration moved through his expression, his voice gruff when he murmured, “Never thought I’d be given a chance like this, Tessa. The chance to love again. The chance to feel what I feel for you.”
He picked me up off my feet and kissed me. Kissed me sweetly, though with Milo, it was always underscored with passion. With this need that torched me through.
He had it all wrong.
He was the heat and the fire and the flame.
The one that would forever burn inside me.
He pulled back. “You’d better get that adorable ass in your car so I can follow you to work before I carry you back inside instead.”
“Don’t tease me.”
“Oh, it’s not me who’s doing the teasin’, Little Dove. Think we know that honor belongs to you.”
Lightness played across his features.
I hiked up onto my toes and pecked a quick kiss to his sexy mouth. “Fine. I’ll see you tonight at the club.”
He had to work…and, well, like we’d established, he didn’t want me out of his sight. He certainly wasn’t going to leave me at the cabin alone until three in the morning.
I wasn’t exactly complaining.
“I’ll be waiting.” He opened my car door for me, standing there like a giant gentleman as he helped me inside.
“Liar…you’ll be sitting outside the school, keeping watch, just like a good fiancé would do,” I teased.
Need rumbled through him, head to toe.
My spirit shivered with the impact.
With the truth of how desperately I loved him.
“Plan to be the best, Tessa. Best I can be for the rest of my life.”
“I cannot believe I let you drag me to the club on a Thursday night.” Eden climbed the three stairs that led to the employee side door at Absolution.
“Oh, please, your husband is inside. This is not clubbing, Eden, it’s family time. You’re welcome.”
She tossed me a grin from over her shoulder, and her blonde curls swished around her face. “You’re dead set on taking credit for everything related to my family, aren’t you?”
I gave her a nonchalant shrug. “I mean, I won’t brag about it or anything since humility is kind of my thing, but you know, if the shoe fits and all.”
She laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”
“You know you love me.”
Eden grinned, though it was soft. “Mad love.”
“It’s the only way I’ll take it,” I told her as I swung open the door.
I was so ready for a good time. Karl had texted me earlier, saying he was back in town and wanted to talk.
Revulsion had crawled through me, and I hadn’t even graced him with a response.
Because the only thing that mattered was the man who filled my sight the second we stepped inside.
Talk about mad love.
My stomach bottomed out as Milo came our direction. He looked like a legitimate goliath as he stalked down the hall, wearing all black and ferocity on his face. His shoulders were so wide I thought they might rub against each side of the wall, his head nearly touching the ceiling, his powerful presence erupting from him and pounding through the air with each step he took.
Milo had just texted for an ETA, but since I drove my Corolla like it actually was a Porsche, we’d made it a few minutes early.
He looked annoyed by that fact, all while his gaze was licking over the red dress I’d worn just for him like he was wondering how fast he could get me out of it.
“Told you I’d meet you outside,” he grumbled.
“Sorry, we got here, and Oz was out there talking to one of the employees, so we didn’t see any harm in it. You know that guy would go GI Joe on that jerk’s ass if he dared to show up here, so we were completely fine.”
A grunt got free of Milo, the man hesitant to give, though I could see a little of the edge slide from his being.
I slipped my palm up his chest, tipping my head back to take all of him in. Every cell in my body pounded. Lit in recognition.
His arm curved around my waist and yanked me against all that knotted muscle.
Yummy.
“Told you to be careful,” he warned low.
“I am,” I promised, then I let a flirty grin take to one side of my mouth. “Miss me?”
“If you’re not with me, that means I’m missing you, Tessa.”
His words were so hard that I gasped a little at the weight of them.
Tingles raced over my flesh.