Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
He was staring at my body. I didn’t imagine the interest and low burn of desire in his gaze. If I said I didn’t find him attractive, that would be a lie. Despite having no idea what he looks like, his intensity calls to the baser parts of me. And his body? It’s hot as fuck.
Focus, man.
I shove up the arms of my hoodie sleeves past my elbows in an effort to cool myself off. I’m flushed from my hot bath and even hotter encounter with Jude. I need to get out of this room and away from this buzzing between us.
“Lead the way,” I croak out. “If any ghosts come at me, though, you better save me.”
“Nothing will get to you here,” Jude says with a confident grunt.
No ghosts of my past? I’m in.
I force a smile and then we leave the room. He walks us to the end of the hall where green lights glow. When I get a peek inside, my eyeballs nearly fall out of my head.
“Holy crap? Did we just enter the Matrix?”
Jude cocks his head to the side as he considers my words. It’s really eerie when he does that. I suppress a shiver. “It’s my office.”
“Obviously.” I push past him into the room and admire the many, many monitors. Are there eight of them? “Wow.”
“It’s just where I work. Nothing special.”
I don’t think anyone in the Pentagon has anything this intense set up. It’s more than special. It’s impressive. “What do you do for work?”
He grunts. “I take care of my family.”
“Vague much?”
He shrugs, avoiding eye contact. “Everything I do comes back to that. Whether it’s keeping them safe from people who want to harm them or making money in whatever ways I can, I do it. Nothing else to say about it.”
His answer is frustrating, but at least it’s an answer. He’s actually talking to me and not acting like he wants to body-slam me to the ground. This is progress. I’m making headway.
Once I’ve seen my fill, he leads me back down the hallway, pointing out other bedrooms. His room is at the end of the hallway, but he doesn’t bother opening the door to show me, much to my disappointment.
So far, I’ve seen a whole lot of nothing.
“Let’s go downstairs.” He leads the way, charging down the steps like his ass is on fire.
From my vantage point, above him for once, I can see mottled scarring on the back of his neck. It makes me wonder if that same scarring is what’s on his face. How could it be so bad that he would want to hide from everyone?
They’re just scars.
Lots of people have them on the outside.
Most of us have them on the inside.
They tell our story whether we like it or not.
Jude shows me the kitchen next. Violet is already in there, chopping away at a myriad of colorful vegetables. When she sees me, she gives me a conspiratorial wink. I respond back with a small wave and a crushing weight of guilt.
She’s waiting for me to fix him and I’ve been lowkey salivating over his muscular body.
Right.
Stay on task.
Get Jude to talk and actually help him.
“Another bathroom,” Jude says, gesturing for a powder room off the dining room.
I note there aren’t mirrors in here either. Not surprised.
We pass by some French doors. And I stop to see if he’ll talk about what’s in there. When he realizes I’m not following, he screeches to a halt and darts his gaze back and forth between the doors and me.
“Grandpa. He naps at this time of day. Violet wakes him for dinner. You’ll meet him later.”
Okay then.
He takes me down another dark hallway past the pristine and severely outdated living room. When we reach another set of French doors, he bursts through them. The light flickers on and I’m met with a room full of gym machines and weights. No mirrors here either. Shocker.
“This is how we stay trim around here. Violet likes to fatten us up.”
His tone is softer than usual. Sweet almost. He clearly loves that woman as much as she loves him. This is good. He’s not a lost cause.
“Who is we?” I ask.
“Grandpa will do some of the smaller weights in here with me sometimes.
The thought of him and his grandpa working out together softens me even further toward him. He really does love his family. Yes, he’s extreme in his efforts to protect him, but it’s admirable.
“Am I allowed to use this gym?”
He turns, skimming his gaze over my body as though trying to remember how scrawny I was in just my towel. His Adam’s apple bobs and then he nods once.
Sweet.
Free gym membership.
After the gym, he takes me down to the end of the hallway. Beyond that door is the best room in the house. The room is large with windows that take up most of one wall that faces Park Mountain. Beside the gargantuan windows are floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with books. Toward the tops of the shelves are dustier, older-looking books, but the ones closer to the bottom are colorful and clearly more modern ones. I approach one of the bookshelves and pluck a book out.