Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88447 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88447 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
He made a happy, rumbling sound in his chest as he laced his fingers together on my lower back. “I love you, too. Are you ready to try the park?”
For a moment, I blinked at him. “Yeah…yeah I think I am.”
He quirked his head to the side in that Vali-like move again. “Are you sure?”
I did a little mental inventory and found no signs of distress or panic.
Weird.
Normally, I’d be a ball of nerves, especially considering my childhood nightmare of someone trying to kill me had come true.
I mean, I was still freaked out about it, but I wasn’t debilitated by my fear.
“Layla?”
“Hmmm?” I rubbed my fingers through the short hair at the back of his head. “Oh, sorry. I was just realizing that not once back there did I go through my usual self-doubt/fear cycle that I normally have to fight off.”
His grip tightened. “Really?”
“Yeah…” I smiled up at him. “Being with you, it makes me brave. I know that no one will hurt me while you’re at my side. You’ll keep me safe.”
“Absolutely.” His phone did an odd triple chirp. “One second.”
He read the text on his screen, and his smile faded to a frown. “That was Leo. The fire marshal gave the all-clear to view your house if you want. There’s no rush. If you don’t feel up to it, we can wait. We have a recovery and cleanup crew there who’ll start sifting through the wreckage. They’ll save everything they can.”
Shaking my head, I let out a deep sigh. “No, I’d rather get it over with. Not knowing is the worst. Also, please thank the Cordova family for me. I really appreciate their help.”
He looked up at me, and I tried to read his expression, but his darn mirrored sunglasses kept his eyes from me. “I will, but I know they’re happy to help. You sure you’re ready for this?”
“Will you be there with me?”
“Every step of the way.”
“Then yes.”
“Baby bear,” he murmured, cupping my face with his big hand as he gave me a small, heartfelt smile that warmed someplace in my body other than my heart.
A little flutter went through me, and I welcomed it, letting the desire settle in my core. Maybe it was avoidance, and maybe it wasn’t healthy, but I’d rather feel desire than sorrow. Desire felt good, a respite from the constant worry that plagued my life. Mark’s dick must be magical, because while I was sad about losing my home, I wasn’t devastated. Things could be replaced, and as terrible as it was, the fire seemed to light a proverbial flame under his ass.
That made me grin and Mark said, “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, I was just thinking about how, if my house hadn’t caught fire, we’d never be together.”
He shifted, moving us into the shadow of the Jaguar and out of the hot sun. “I’m sorry. I—”
“No.” I stroked his beard, wanting to take the worry lines away from the sides of his mouth. “No, I’m not saying that to make you feel bad. I’m just…looking on the bright side of things in a very dark way. I’m just so glad we’re finally together.”
He leaned down, rubbed his nose along mine, and that flame in my belly flickered again. “Me too.”
I leaned up on my tiptoes. He obligingly lowered his head, the scruff of his beard brushing my jaw as I slowly kissed one side of his mouth then the other. His smell was getting to me again, as was his heat. I loved the contrast of his soft shirt over hard muscle, and ran my hands over his shoulders, pausing to finger the various dents.
“You keep touching me like that, and you’ll be forcing me to drive with a raging hard-on.”
“Ohhhhh,” I purred, feeling bold and wicked in the bright morning sun. “That sounds dangerous. Is there anything I can do to help you out with that?”
His jaw clenched for a moment, and when he spoke his voice was deep and husky. “I believe there might be.”
Vali gave an impatient, short bark—his way of telling me he had to use the bathroom.
“Damn, Vali has to use the restroom.”
Mark slowly licked his lower lip. “I’m gonna have one of my guys take Vali for a walk.”
“You are?”
“Mmm-hmmm,” he practically growled, his presence seeming to intensify somehow. With one hand, he pulled his phone out, hit a button, then said, “Mateo, need you to come walk Vali for fifteen minutes or so. I have something I need to discuss with Layla—in private.”
I could clearly hear Mateo giving Mark shit about being sure he didn’t need five minutes, insinuating that Mark was a minute man in bed. Instead of getting pissed, a smile ghosted over Mark’s lips. Ahhh, male bonding at its finest.
Why guys liked it when their friends gave them shit was a mystery to me, but such was male bonding.