Total pages in book: 227
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
“To be picked up when you fall down,” he murmurs, pushing his mouth gently to mine, stopping my lip from quivering and breathing life back into me again. I melt into the tenderness of his lips on mine, the gentle swirl of his tongue, the heat of his mouth. And my world rights itself once again. It’s a long, slow kiss. The best kind. I need him to kiss me every day like this. It goes on forever, but it still feels like too soon when he brings it to a gradual stop, pecking my lips gently and letting his face fall into the crook of my neck. “I’ve got you,” he whispers, pressing light kisses across my throat. “I’ve got you.”
I sigh, leaning on him. In every way. “I didn’t mean to yell.”
“I didn’t mean to make you feel like I don’t want you,” he replies, his voice raspy. “It’s—”
“A lot.”
I feel him nod. Take a few breaths. “He wants to see you.”
My body stiffens, and it hurts again. I think I expected that, if only because he’s a sick bastard who thrives on the fear he sees in people. He’s not seen that fear in me for a long time. Because he simply hasn’t seen me. The moment in the hotel was brief and not enough to feed his kicks. But if one more time means never again. And, actually, if he’s demanded it, there’s only one right answer. Especially if we want to get Nolan back. “I’ll do it. I’ll see him.”
Brad’s quickly out of my neck, his face a picture of incredulity. “What?”
“I said I’d do it.”
He laughs, not in humor, releasing me before quickly reclaiming me when I wobble. His face straightens. “It’s a hard no.”
“He won’t return Nolan.”
“He will for two hundred million.”
I baulk at him. “You’re paying him?” Two hundred million? “Wait. Does he know I’m not . . .” Did Anya tell anyone?
Brad shakes his head. “He doesn’t know, and he has Nolan, Pearl. I can’t risk pissing him off.”
“But Anya knew.”
Brad puts a finger over my lips. “Need to know,” he says quietly.
“Oh my God, Brad.” I blink, astounded, feeling incredibly wobbly again. “You can’t pay him that.” But what did I think was going to happen? My uncle would return Nolan, accept he wasn’t getting me, and that would be that? Of course I didn’t. But that’s an insane amount of money.
“Shhhh,” Brad hushes me, feeling at my face. “He’s never coming near you again.”
“My uncle doesn’t bargain, Brad. He makes his demands and people meet the demands or—”
“Or, what?” he asks. “He kills them? Pearl, my love, you’re not in the English countryside anymore. You’re in Miami. You’re in The Brit’s mansion.” He takes my neck and massages gently. “You’re in my heart.” It may be a completely unfitting time to swoon, but it happens nonetheless. “You have to trust me.”
Trust him. My God. I nod halfheartedly—because what else can I do?—and let him smother me with kisses, fearful that he should be trusting my words. I know Bernard King. He shouldn’t be underestimated.
“He said he has a gift for you,” Brad says quietly. “Do you know what it is?”
I take in air. It could be only one thing. Something so precious to me. “My mother’s necklace.”
“A necklace?”
“My dad brought it for her when I was born. It’s a pearl surrounded by rubies.” I swallow. “Pearls for me, rubies for mother.”
“Her name was Ruby?”
I nod. “She said it would be mine one day. He took it after I buried her.”
“We’ll get it back,” Brad says, sounding sure, and definitely angry. “Come on, back to bed.”
Bed? I’m sick of being in bed. “Can’t I go downstairs for a while?” A tea and a cigarette sound dreamy right now.
“You’re too—” His body deflates when I give him a tired look. “Fine,” he relents. “Just for a little while.”
“Okay, Daddy,” I breathe, and then yelp when he squeezes my arse before he sits me on the bed and pulls some jeans on. I blink back my awe as he picks me up and carries me downstairs across his arms. “Let me walk a little bit,” I plead as he nears the bottom. I need to build up my strength, and Brad carrying me everywhere isn’t going to help, even if it feels nice.
When he reaches the bottom, he dips and places me on my feet gingerly, watching my face for discomfort, so I work hard not to show it. “Okay?”
“Okay,” I breathe, feeling his arm snake around my back. He walks me into the kitchen, and all of the chatter dies when everyone sees me. “Oh gosh, everyone is here,” I say over an awkward laugh, all attention pointing my way. Faces full of sympathy. Oh, I don’t like this. It was a mistake. They all know what’s happened to me. They all know who I am. I start to back up, feeling resistance from Brad. I look up at him. “That’s enough for one day,” I whisper.