Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 20595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 103(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 103(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
I stand there looking down at my bloody hands and clench my fists. I look back and forth between my hands and the man lying on the ground. The audacity of some people astounds me. I suck in several deep breaths, trying to calm myself down.
“Nolan?” I close my eyes as she touches my shoulder hesitantly. Fuck, I hate that hesitation. “Nolan, what…?” she asks, when I don’t respond.
“Doll, don’t touch me right now. I am too worked up. You touching me might not end the way you write in your books, babe. Not when someone who has no right to be touching you, had his grimy fucking paws on you, harassing you. I am not in control of myself right now, Cheryl,” I tell her, ready to sweep her up in my arms and take her away from all this blood and gore.
“Are you saying you would hurt me, Nolan?” she asks, and I die inside. I turn to face her and her beautiful blue eyes that are full of unshed tears widen.
Even though I’d kill for her, I know she’s not ready to hear that. Not yet, but after this there’s no going back.
Not for me.
CHAPTER 9
CHERYL
Mortification is a tame word compared to what I am feeling right now. “Nolan?” I touch his shoulder hesitantly; not really sure he won’t turn on me. I don’t know who he is right now. Who is this man, chest hulking up and down like a fire-breathing dragon, muscles practically bulging out of his t-shirt, standing over another man who, by the way, I was positive up until this moment was bigger than Nolan? “Nolan, what…?”
“Doll, don’t touch me right now. I am too worked up. You touching me might not end the way you write in your books, babe. Not when someone who has no right to be touching you, had his grimy fucking paws on you, harassing you. I am not in control of myself right now, Cheryl.” Oh my. Is my body supposed to be responding to the edge in his voice and the force with which he put this man to the ground trying to protect me?
“Are you saying you would hurt me, Nolan?” I know the answer instinctually, but it is the only way I could think of to make him forget about the guy grunting and holding his arm on the ground. As I expected, he whips around, facing me like a fierce lion. His face changes from deadly to lustfully drunk. I don’t know what is happening, but I can feel the adrenaline in him whirling around us, closing us in our own cocoon at this moment.
His hand lifts and touches a lost hair, and heck, I feel it in my veins. He licks his lips and runs his fingers down my neck over the column of my throat. “No, baby. I would never hurt you. Not in the way you’re thinking, doll.” He moves so close that if I sneezed, he would inhale it like a night in the rain. My eyes become heavy, sniffing his scent. There is something primal about the way he smells. Like the confrontation produced its own pheromone. “But if you touch me now, I will throw you over my shoulder, take you home with me and not let you leave until my baby is inside of you, love.”
“What… what are you saying?” I can’t breathe each time he rocks away from me. I lean further into him, feeling like I need the space between us to be nonexistent. My brain is starting to kick in, telling me to run. Reminding me we have literally gone from zero to five million in the span of a punch, and the in-between is missing and something I believe in, but God, I want him to finish that statement.
“I am saying I am done being patient with you. I have tried dropping hints, sending messages, and taking it at your preciously innocent pace, but what did that get me, huh, baby? What did I get for trying to be patient?” He turns back towards the man on the ground and kicks him, which, crazy enough, starts eradicating the fog, and then I remember people are still staring at us. “Someone else thought you were free and clear, and you’re not. Are you, doll?
My mouth moves up and down, words failing me, and then my alarm goes off, and I send up a silent prayer of thanks. “Uh, I have to go pick up Rose at the airport.” Without another word, I flee like the confused coward I am. The truth is, I am so inexperienced with anything having to do with guys that all of this is overwhelming.
The drive to the airport is short, but it does nothing to help my anxiety. By the time I make it to Rose, I am a wreck, and she can see it. “Hey. You are supposed to be happy to see me. This does not look happy,” she says, trying to lighten the moment. Guilt mixes with the events of the day, and I sort of fall apart. “Cheryl, what is going on?” she asks, hugging me. I hold on to her, hiccupping like a lunatic, trying to catch my breath and unsure why I am so out of sorts. Sure everything that happened was shocking and unexpected, but I wasn’t hurt, and actually, the guy at the booth was starting to freak me out when he wouldn’t leave me alone. Nolan saved me, and I owe him.