Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“Good luck,” Phoenix said as he left the two of them alone.
“Sadie.”
“Don’t Sadie me! You are not the boss of me. I’m not trapped here,” she spat.
“I’m only trying to keep you safe, Little girl.”
“Don’t ‘Little girl’ me!” Angrier than she’d ever remembered being, Sadie picked up the notebook she’d been putting the updated directions in and lobbed it his way, expecting him to dodge it easily and really be angry when he did. To her surprise, he didn’t move.
The binder caught him in the chin, and a thin line of blood trickled down his neck. Horrified at her behavior, she grabbed a handful of tissues and rushed around the desk, kicking the thick office folder away. Pressing the white tissue to his chin, she apologized, “I’m so sorry, Rocco. Why didn’t you duck?”
“You seemed to need to hurt something. Better me than yourself,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her close.
Taking the tissues from her hand, he tucked a couple with droplets of blood under the collar of his shirt before wiping her cheeks dry with the clean ones. “You didn’t even know you were crying, did you, Cookie?”
“Stop being so nice to me. I just bonked you with a weapon!” she sobbed.
“Seems like you have a lot of feelings to get out. Did throwing that binder help?”
“Yes! Yes, it did,” she tried to state firmly, hating it when her voice trembled.
“Come here, Sadie. Let me hold you.” He pulled her against his hard chest and held her firmly in place, rocking her rigid body back and forth as he rubbed her back. Slowly, her sobs lessened, and she relaxed against him. “That’s my girl.”
“Why you’d even want me as your Little girl, I don’t know. I’m vicious, and I come with a lot of garbage you don’t need,” she said as she regained control of her voice.
“Vicious isn’t a word I would use to describe you, Sadie. Scared. At your wit's end. Unsure who to trust. Those are all much better phrases for the emotions I suspect are running through you right now.”
“Panicked,” she added.
“Definitely panicked.”
“How do I know I can trust you? Or Mr. Kingsley? Maybe this is all a giant ruse to get rid of me,” she suggested, sharing a couple of the million thoughts rattling around her brain as she tried to look self-assured and calm.
“Let me tell you a story. A couple of years ago, I did something pretty naïve. I was tired of my office job, so I became a mountain guide. I heard about a large group offering a ridiculous amount of money to be guided through the peaks. All the more experienced guide companies turned them down, but I volunteered for the job.”
“That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” she murmured as she studied his face. It was etched with emotions, and Rocco looked a decade older than he’d ever appeared.
“If it hadn’t been for a team sent by Kingsley to intervene, I would be bones at the bottom of a ravine right now. One of the men gave me a marker and told me it would be called in when I could repay my benefactor for saving my life.”
“That’s why you’re here now?” she whispered.
“Yes. Bad things happen to good people. Sometimes, they’re too eager and stupid like I was. Other times, someone’s in the wrong place at the wrong time and asks too many questions, like you.”
“Are you going to be able to save me?”
“I’m going to do my best, but you have to start working with me and not against me, Little girl.”
“Where should I go?” she asked.
“You’ll stay here with me. There are six men who will do anything to make sure you’re protected, but you can’t run. Here, we can control the odds. Out there, too many variables make it hard to protect you. I need you to trust that we are working on this threat day and night. We will put an end to it.”
She nodded, overwhelmed. “I can’t even think.”
“I know. You didn’t eat lunch, and I suspect you skipped breakfast,” he said gently, searching her face.
When she nodded, he added, “Your brain needs fuel to process clearly. So, it’s time for dinner. Then a spanking and bed in my guest room.”
“A spanking?”
“Don’t you think you’ve earned one today?”
“Yes, but…it’s been a really bad day. Phoenix said you moved my stuff upstairs. That pissed me off.”
“It didn’t. You were already scared to stay in your room on the fourth floor all alone,” he pointed out.
She opened her mouth to argue and saw the faint red line on his neck. Nodding, she agreed. “I was already plotting to switch rooms every night so no one could find me.”
“How well do you think I would sleep knowing you were unprotected after today?”