Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
“How was shopping?”
The question yanked me to reality. Firming my resolve, I began kneading the base of his neck, ignoring the effect the low moan rumbling out of him was doing to me.
“It was good up until a frigid blast from my past blew in to ruin my day.”
“Thatcher mentioned he had to talk a shop owner out of calling the cops on you. Would this frigid wind have anything to do with it?”
“Everything.” I sighed. “But she doesn’t get to ruin the rest of my day by dominating the conversation. All that needs to be said is she’s Echidna, the mother of monsters, and she devours her victims alive. Beware.”
Sunny chuckled. “Will do. I was thinking I’d set up a bank account for you and Sienna, so you won’t have this problem again. Half the seven hundred and fifty thousand up front. The rest deposits while I’m running naked and covered in war paint through the square, carrying the bastard’s head on a spike.”
I’m ashamed to say I pictured the scene, and it turned me on more than a little. The naked-with-war-paint part, not the severed head.
“Now that we’re on the subject,” I began, “Sunny, three-quarters of a mill is too much. We don’t need that much money.”
He squeezed my knee, breaking the look but don’t touch rule, and I forgot to care. “You’re taking a huge risk for me. For Liam. For Tricky and my entire family. I won’t send you off with nothing.”
“Well, it doesn’t have to be nothing. I have the means now to sew decent clothes to wear on interviews. I’ve got that sketchpad I’ve taken off your hands to rebuild my portfolio. What I really need is an address to put on those employment forms. So, that’ll be my hazard pay. First’s, last’s, and the security deposit for an apartment in North Quay.”
“Hmm.” Sunny dropped his head on the rim, hair brushing my bottoms. “No.”
“Excuse me?”
“That would be a no, Angel. How much is that? A few grand? You could get that by walking outside right now. Guys’ll fling hundreds at your feet at the sight of you in that bathing suit.”
“Bit of an exaggeration,” I mumbled.
“No one risks their life, and their sister’s life, for something they can get themselves. What do you really want, Mackenzie?”
“All I need is a home and a job—”
“I didn’t ask what you needed.” Upside down, and his silver orbs pierced me through. “I asked what you wanted.”
I tore away, eyes stinging. “Something you can’t give me.” I swung my legs over the side. “There. I hoped that helped with the pain.”
Sunny tracked me climbing in across from him, putting as much distance as the tub allowed. Beautiful, eerie, haunting, clouded with mischief—all of those described his eyes, but an open book into his emotions was not on the list. I couldn’t guess what he was thinking as the silence weighed heavier on us, and my guilt at snapping at him burrowed deeper.
It wasn’t his fault he almost made me open up about Laurel. I had to keep a separation between my reason for living and my reasons for existing, or I couldn’t do either.
“You feel that?” Sunny asked.
“What?”
“That pain between your shoulder blades.”
I grasped at my back, twisting. “Between my shoulder blades?”
“That’s the awkward silence trying to kill us both.”
I barked a laugh before I caught myself. “Well, what can you do? It’s times like this you realize we don’t really know each other and have nothing to talk about.”
“Au contraire, candy thighs. Strangers have the most to talk about. Every topic is uncharted territory. Everything is still there for us to learn about each other. It’s old, weathered couples who run out of things to say.” He took hold of my waist, pulling me across the divide.
“Hey, what are you—”
“Shh, relax.” His words were warm honey in my ears. “I’m returning the favor.”
Sunny homed in on a knot between my blades that I accepted months ago as my new lifelong companion, and dug in. I melted in his hands.
“Oh, wow...”
“Any time you want to trade massages, I will make myself available.”
I tipped my head forward, eyes fluttering shut. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I meant that to come out sarcastic. It purred out closer to a moan.
“We’ll revisit the subject of your payment, but I’m still going to open an account for you and Sienna. I can’t keep a low, dead profile if you’re using my aliases around town and calling me up to get you out of trouble.”
“I can’t fault... that logic,” I forced out. “Fine, but don’t go overboard. All I need is to eat and buy rolls of lace, and Kenzie’s a happy girl.”
“What else makes Kenzie happy? Come on,” he said when I didn’t answer. “Or the awkward silence will get us for good next time.”