Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 50402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 252(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 252(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
“I know I’m not irreplaceable, but they have to be scrambling without me to make the schedule and approve all the upper-level accounts.” Her mind churned with all the small and big jobs she did every day. Who was taking all this on? The bank president was not the type of person to roll up his cuffs voluntarily to help.
“What’s two hundred and forty-seven plus eleven hundred minus seventy-nine?” Steele asked.
The numbers rattled around in her brain, and what would have been ten seconds max for her to solve seemed unsurmountable. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “How can I not know?”
His hand smoothed over her back as the other lifted to cup the uninjured side of her head. “You banged yourself up pretty badly, Little girl. You have to give yourself time to heal. That’s why the doc doesn’t want you to go back to work.”
“I should have just stayed still in that dumpster and waited for them to come back and get me. I hurt myself for no reason.”
“What do you think they would have done if all the Shadowridge Guardians would have been at their bikes when they returned? Would they have waltzed up to the dumpster and retrieved you or driven past, maybe trying again later? How many times would they have stopped back to get you?”
She looked at him and shook her head. Those guys would have given up on her quickly. Whatever they’d thought she could do for them, they wouldn’t have risked getting caught—and they sure hadn’t cared what happened to her.
“You were fucking brilliant to figure out a way to get people’s attention and not lay there accepting your fate as someone’s victim. You always fight back when your life is at risk. Even if you’re hurt, you never give up.”
“I’m not brave like you. I should have fought harder when they first attacked me. There wasn’t much I could do tied up and wrapped in that bag.”
“There were three of them and one of you. You survived to fight another day. I’m damn proud of you.”
“You are? But I didn’t escape. You had to save me.”
“We can all use someone in our corner. I’m glad to have the Guardians behind me as well. I’m also glad to have one scrappy Little on my side.”
“Thanks, Daddy.” She deliberately used the name he preferred and loved the effect it had on Steele.
He cradled her head in one hand and turned their bodies to reverse their positions. Looking down to meet her gaze directly, Steele demanded, “Say it again.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Ivy said with a bit more ease. She enjoyed making Steele happy.
“Damn, Little girl. I was never going to let you go before, but now…”
“I’ll have to go back to my real life some time, St… Um, Daddy.” She made a face when she bobbled, using the right name.
“It will get more familiar, Ivy girl.” He brushed the hair from her face tenderly to not touch her bruising. “We’ll need to adjust a few things. You live on the other side of town.”
“Yeah, it’s a little quieter there. That’s good after working in the hustle and bustle of the bank, but lonely at other times.”
“Sounds like you need a companion,” he suggested, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
She swallowed hard and admitted, “I don’t know if my neighbors are going to approve of a motorcycle gang boyfriend.”
“First off, the Shadowridge Guardians are not a gang. We’re a motorcycle club. We aren’t thugs or criminals… Well, no one is now. Some have a shady past, but they’ve changed their priorities.”
“But you all look like a gang,” Ivy suggested.
“We look like a motorcycle club. I’ll save an old lady’s cat, fix someone else’s kitchen sink, and change a teenager’s tire. Then your snooty neighbors won’t look down on my bike and tattoos.”
“I don’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. I know you’re a good guy. You just don’t wear khakis and a button-down shirt.” An image of his muscular body hiding under yards of fabric, with his tattoos peeking out, popped into her mind. Yeah, he’d look good even in that.
“Don’t even consider it, Little girl. That’s one thing that won’t ever happen,” Steele told her in a definite tone that brooked no argument.
‘I could get a dog.”
“You’re not replacing me with a fucking dog, Little girl.”
“No! I didn’t mean that!”
“That reassuring,” he said with twitching lips, cluing Ivy in that he was trying not to laugh.
“Do you always stay here?” she asked.
“I do. We could live here. It’s not fancy. I like to be here in case the club needs me.”
“All your friends are here. It’s safe.”
“We’ll stay here until they catch whoever targeted you. Then we’ll make the tough decision.”
“We’ll stay together?” she asked, studying his face. Ivy didn’t know how she knew he was the man she’d hoped to find. They just clicked together.