Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Releasing his fingers from mine, he used one to stroke over my cheek. “Until you,” he said softly. “You saw them all and you accepted them, even if you didn’t agree with them. You saw something in me that was worth fighting for, but it wasn’t something you could do for me. All you could give me was the promise of a tomorrow that would someday be different. You took all the bullshit I threw at you, and you accepted it. You loved me anyway. You hurt when I hurt, you celebrated when I celebrated.” JJ paused for several beats. “You loved when I loved.”
“I would have killed you, JJ,” I admitted in a shameful whisper. “I hurt your arm, I slammed you against the wall, I put my hands around your—”
JJ gently grabbed my chin so he could force me to look at him. He brushed his mouth over mine. “Sweetheart, you’re forgetting one piece of pretty important information,” he said with a soft smile. “You may be stronger than me, but believe me, I’ve taken down bigger guys than you. Tactical training was kind of a requirement in the academy, and I’ve had years to put that training to good use.” He grinned victoriously.
Despite the ugliness of what had just gone down between us, I couldn’t help but let some of JJ’s cheekiness rub off on me.
“So you’re saying you can take me down?” I asked.
“Remind me to give you a little demonstration of my skills when we have a very big bed in a very empty location and a very remote place where no one can hear your screams,” he said with a slight arch of his eyebrows. The idea of wrestling a naked JJ for the prize of who got to be in control in bed eased the cramping in my stomach.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” I responded. My eyes fell from the bruise forming on his cheek to the welts on his neck, and I couldn’t keep myself from running my fingers over the red marks. “Why didn’t you stop me?” I asked in all seriousness.
“Because you needed me,” JJ responded.
“I don’t understand,” I said. His words made no sense.
“You were back in that place. That fucking cold, ugly place where the only thing you needed to do was survive. But this time you needed something else. Something you put away in one of those boxes in your head.” JJ ran his fingers along my temple and then through my hair.
“You needed me to come for you, Cass,” he said softly as silent tears began to slip down his face. “You were waiting for me to fix everything and get you out of that place. That’s what I was trying to do. I couldn’t let you spend even one more second in—”
I captured JJ’s mouth and kissed him over and over again, sometimes by just brushing my lips over his, other times by slanting my mouth over his and letting our tongues dance for the briefest of moments. I forced myself to end the kiss because my body was already responding to his proximity and neither of us were in a place to do anything about it.
Still, that didn’t stop me from staring at JJ. It was the only thing I could do. The only thing I wanted to do.
He’d come for me. It may not have been the scenario I’d envisioned in those early days, but as soon as he had been able to get to me, he’d unlocked the door, taken my hand, and led me from the depths of hell and into the warm, welcoming rays of the sun.
JJ had come for me.
I was free.
Finally, truly free.
CHAPTER 28
Jj
“It’s a mistake,” Cass repeated for what had to be the tenth time. He was pacing in my brother’s office, his expression ping-ponging between confusion and denial. Sully was on his second scotch, his eyes shifting from Cass to the bruises on my throat and face. I’d chosen to wear long sleeves so there would be one less bruise for both men to have to look at.
After the incident at the houseboat, I’d called Sully to let him know we were heading to his office. My brother had been waiting outside the building for us. Cass had been closer to him, so Sully had hugged him first, not noticing how on edge he was. I’d been next. My brother had been so relieved to see me that he hadn’t noticed the red marks on my face and throat, or the small butterfly bandages on my left temple.
Sully’s bear hug had both warmed me and left me carrying a lot of guilt. I’d whispered the words “I’m sorry” to him, but he’d surprised me by telling me not to be sorry because I’d done what I’d needed to do.