Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 130159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Beck shrugged. “If you offed him in less than twenty-four hours, I’ll be disappointed.”
He should have guessed that the doctor, despite his Hippocratic Oath, was bloodthirsty. “Two hours shy of four days.”
And when he’d started peeling off the killer’s skin layer by layer, Silas Nichols had finally admitted everything he’d done.
“How did you feel afterward?”
He whirled at the sound of Heavenly’s question across the house. She stood just outside the powder bath, staring at him with big, uncertain eyes. Fuck, she’d heard his admission.
It took everything inside Seth not to rush across the space between them and wrap her in his arms. Instead, he swallowed and forced himself to be honest. “Exhausted. Empty. Soulless.”
She bit her lip. “But you would do it again?”
“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate, and he didn’t prevaricate. Neither would do him any good. As much as he hated to give her the truth, he’d come this far. She deserved as much as he dared to give her.
“I see.”
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he demanded in the softest voice he could manage with his guts twisting and his world falling apart.
“Logically, I know you’re a dangerous man. I think I’ve always known on some level. But the details…”
Were too much for her tender heart. He didn’t know how to be anyone else. “I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “On the other hand, you lived through something tragic. Of course it affected you. I suspect you even saw getting revenge as your duty.”
“I did.” For more reasons than she would ever know.
“Another way you take care of those you care about.”
What was she getting at? “Yes.”
“Do you love me, Seth? Really?” Heavenly looked so vulnerable, standing a dozen feet away, fingers clasped in front of her as if she was afraid of the answer.
Though conversation about his past had frozen his insides, the uncertainty in her words melted his heart. “You have no idea. I think I’ve been in love with you from the moment we met.”
She exhaled, releasing a pent-up breath, then she glanced at Beck. “Do you have anything to say?”
“Objections? Concerns?” The surgeon shook his head. “No. In his place, I probably would have done something very similar.”
“We’re men,” Seth felt compelled to add.
As soon as the words were out, he realized that might not explain anything to her at all. But seconds later, she proved he’d underestimated her.
“You’re protectors,” she murmured.
“Yes,” he rushed to agree, ridiculously grateful she grasped that fact.
“I know.”
But she was still hesitating, and Seth grappled to understand why. “If you think I would only go to such lengths for Autumn because she was my wife, you don’t understand.”
“What do you mean?” Heavenly cocked her head, her pale curls sliding across her shoulders and down her bare arms.
The sun slanted through the windows, lighting her up like the angel he always called her. He clenched his fists and quelled his urge to cross the floor, take her in his arms, and nestle her body under his until he reminded her in the most thorough, pleasurable ways possible that he belonged to her, now and always.
“I love you more.” At her gasp, he went on. “That sounds like a terrible thing to say. But Autumn and I had problems. We met in high school. I was the only man she’d ever known. In some ways, she went straight from her father’s care to mine.”
And he’d sucked it all in. They’d fit together because she hadn’t liked decisions and thrived on structure. He’d relished having complete control over her…at first. But even before Tristan’s birth, the weight of her day-to-day care had begun to drain him. He’d tried his best to ease back, but she’d merely cried and heaped guilt on him, then accused him of not loving her anymore. After every such fight, he’d inevitably resumed being the master to her slave, while assuring her that her fears weren’t true. But he’d been lying, and deep down, they’d both known it. The breaking point had been coming. Tristan had been a temporary Band-Aid, a vehicle—he’d hoped—for Autumn to grow into a fully adult role. Instead, she’d crumpled under the weight of duty. So had he.
Together, they had been a disaster.
Heavenly lifted a trembling hand to her mouth. “What are you trying to say?”
“There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe.” He couldn’t stand the distance between them another moment. He rushed her, wrapping hard fingers around her soft shoulders and hauling her body against his, ignoring the way she tensed. “I would go to the ends of the earth for you. And if anyone ever dared to touch you, what I did to the motherfucker who ended Autumn and Tristan would look like a scratch.”
“You would kill them.” Heavenly sounded shocked, but it wasn’t a question. She knew.
He didn’t pretend otherwise, merely nodded. Now that his secret was out, he might as well be clear about her protection. Better for her to know exactly who she claimed to be in love with. “In ways so terrible, even the most hardened criminal would be afraid to whisper about it.”