Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
“Right here, baby.” He picked up her foot and began a massage.
As always, he wasn’t the gentlest when he dug his fingers into the knots that had formed, but his attention felt good.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
His head jerked up and she felt his dark, compelling eyes like lasers on her. She tried not to look at him, but she couldn’t help it. At once, her gaze was held captive by his. It was difficult not to be taken over, to drown there in him.
“What do you mean, princess? Changed your mind about what?”
His voice. That husky sound that penetrated every cell in her body. His fingers never stopped moving on her feet and ankles, moving up to her calves so that she felt so cared for. Master had a way of paying attention to detail.
She touched the tip of her tongue to her lips to moisten them. “Our bargain. I know we both made a vow, but I really would like to change just a portion of it. I mean, not the entire thing.”
She was stumbling over her words, making a poor job of explaining what she meant, because he was staring right into her soul. He owned her. He didn’t know it, but he did. It was all the little things he did for her and for everyone else.
“Keep talking, princess.”
“I don’t want you to kill Walker Thompson.” She said it fast, the words tripping over one another. She meant it. She didn’t want him to be the killer, not for her. He was her lover. Her love. He had to know that was how she saw him. That was who she needed in her life. Who she wanted. Not the killer.
He stared at her in silence. His hands never faltered. His eyes didn’t blink. He reminded her of a predator. All of a sudden, she was in the bathtub with a very dangerous marauder, and she was telling him to call off the hunt.
“I’m in love with you, Master. I’m so in love with you I don’t know what to do with it. I don’t want you because I know you can find and kill a man for me anymore. I don’t even want you to do it. I realized when I saw you go back to that prison, that doing something like that takes a toll on you. I don’t want that for you. I just want us to have a life together. You and me. A future. Hopefully a family.” She waited for his reaction, her heart pounding. She meant every word. Confessing she loved him when she wasn’t certain how he felt emotionally about her was a huge step for her.
His gaze remained locked with hers. “It’s a damn good thing you love me, Ambrielle. I don’t know how that happened, but I’m not tempting fate to ask you. I’ll just thank my lucky stars and do my best to keep you happy.”
He dug his fingers into her calf muscle and massaged. “Are you giving up on the idea of seeing Thompson dead?”
She took a deep breath. She couldn’t lie to him. “Not exactly. I know Torpedo Ink is chasing after him for their own reasons. They’re close to finding him. I’ve been talking to Code. Once they do, I’m a good shot, Master. From the very beginning, I always was going to shoot him myself. He gave the orders to kill my father and mother. As for Gleb and Denis, I’ll get them eventually. It isn’t like I’m not going to come across them. You know as well as I do that they’ll seek me out.”
She watched his reaction carefully. His jaw hardened. His impossibly long lashes swept down and then up, and she was looking into eyes the color of obsidian. “No.”
Ambrielle frowned. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It means no. You aren’t going to put yourself in that position. You aren’t bait for Gleb and Denis, and you aren’t going to kill Thompson. That’s my job. We had a deal, and I keep my word. It’s a matter of honor.”
“I’m supposed to go with you. You were teaching me,” she protested.
“I have been teaching you, and you’ve been a good student. I don’t have any complaints. Do you?”
He carefully replaced her feet in the tub and stood up, reaching for her hands to help her up. Those little things he always did for her. Small courtesies. Where had he learned them when he’d spent his childhood in prison? She knew he thought he wasn’t a good partner.
“I don’t have complaints, Master,” she had to say. “You taught me so much already, but we aren’t finished talking about it.” She took the towel he held out to her and began drying off. “I really meant it. I have changed my mind about you being the one to kill Walker Thompson. You aren’t my killer. You’re my beloved husband.”