Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Uh-oh.
That was likely to be a problem.
Well. Things were only a problem if they were discovered, right?
And her truth could never be discovered.
“Yes,” she replied.
“So you need to be truthful with me. For this to work, you have to be able to communicate. And when I tell you something, I want you to remember that I expect you to obey me. I am not just saying something for the sake of it. So if you are overwhelmed, I am going to trust you to tell me that you are. Can you do that?”
Shoot.
“I will try,” she said, trying to be as honest as she could. “It’s not always easy for me to talk about how I’m feeling.”
“I understand it can be difficult, but the more you do it the easier it gets.”
“I really will try.”
“See? Such a brave girl.” He kissed her lightly.
A flush of pleasure filled her. “I’m really not.”
“I say you are. And what I say goes.” His lips quirked as he said that.
Although she wasn’t altogether sure that he was joking.
After letting go of her hair, he took her hand and led her along the hallway to one of the spare bedrooms.
She had been in this room briefly when she’d conducted a search of the house. As they stepped in, though, she pretended that she’d never seen it before.
“This is a pretty room.”
“Not really to your liking, though, is it?”
“Oh. Um. I like it.”
“You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you?” He raised an eyebrow at her.
“I think it’s called being polite.”
Drawing her close, he wrapped one arm around her waist and smacked her ass with his free hand.
“Hey! What was that for?”
It didn’t hurt. But it did surprise her.
“No lying. Not even to be polite. Do it again and you’ll be bare ass over my knee.”
Okay.
The boss really did mean business tonight.
“And just a warning that I won’t always go this easy on you.”
Wait.
This was him going easy?
Well. Hell.
That was slightly worrying.
“So . . . this style isn’t really you, is it?”
No. She would say not. The room was pretty but she wasn’t really into floral and pastels.
“I don’t really know my style, though,” she said. “And this isn’t actually my room so it doesn’t matter.”
“It does if we want you to be comfortable here, which we do. Of course, at any stage you can feel free to join one of us.”
She swallowed heavily at the heat in his eyes.
Join one of them?
All of them?
Yeah, her body wanted that. But her mind wasn’t quite there yet. He cupped the back of her head and drew her in as he leaned down to kiss her forehead.
It should have felt paternal.
But weirdly, it didn’t exactly. It felt like a warm blanket surrounding her. Safe and cared for.
This man was deadly.
They all were.
“You’ll work it out. We’d be happy to help. If you could decorate this however you liked, what do you think you would do?”
That felt . . . overwhelming.
She’d never had a choice like this. Even the clothes she wore were mostly chosen for her. What money she was given was to cover food and expenses. And it was barely anything.
“I don’t know.”
God. Was he going to think her a complete idiot?
What sort of person didn’t know how they’d like to decorate their bedroom?
“Well, at least you know what you don’t like. That’s a start.”
She guessed.
Talking hold of her hand, he led her into the attached bathroom. A small gasp of pleasure escaped her.
“Oh, this is nice.” The walls and floor were black marble tile with flecks of white and gold. There was a huge, white freestanding bath down one end and a large walk-in shower.
“I thought you might like it in here. Why don’t I run you a bath?”
“A bath?” she repeated.
Why would he want to do that?
“Yes, Little one. So you can relax. You still look tired.” Grasping her around the hips, he lifted her onto the counter. She had to force herself not to react. These guys moving her around like that wasn’t something she was used to.
Salem placed his hands on either side of her. “Stay there.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Yes, Sir.” She added a salute for good measure.
He narrowed his gaze at her and tapped her nose. “Alexei is rubbing off on you. Just remember, out of the three of us, I’m the disciplinarian.”
Yikes.
“And that’s not to say I don’t mind a bit of sass. At least when we’re not playing. When we’re deep in play and I am actually Sir, that won’t be tolerated. You’ve been warned.”
She had.
Multiple times.
But she was probably still going to test him. That was just who she was.
“I look forward to it,” he whispered in her ear as though he’d read her mind.
Holy heck.
18
Tamsyn watched as he moved away and started to fill the bath with water.