Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 108242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“And all this is still under the radar, right?”
“Miraculously, yeah. Or maybe not so miraculously. It was in CamTech’s best interest to keep it on the low. They never went public with the kidnappers’ demands, so it didn’t get beyond friends, family, and a select few high-ranking CamTech execs. Since they were scheduled to be away for a few more days, Nix’s staff here was none the wiser.”
“And the service team?”
“Paco’s family was told about the failed kidnap attempt, and we’re taking care of them. The rest of the team believe they got stranded in the jungle. Not too unusual for Talamanca.”
“Almost like it never happened.”
“Except it did,” I remind him tersely, “and it’s still happening until we find that body.”
“Working on it.” Even though we aren’t face-to-face, I can picture Grim’s scowl, and the irritation is clear in his voice. “Why don’t you get back to your actual job, taking over companies and saving planets and shit?”
I allow myself my first real grin in days. “Believe me. I am. Jin Lei’s head might explode if I don’t get some work done. I’ll dive into one disaster at a time until Nix wakes up.”
“I’ll keep you posted on what we find.”
My grin fades at the reminder that Abe may still be out there, even though the odds are slim.
“Thanks, Grim. For everything.”
He hangs up without acknowledging my gratitude. The closeness between Grim and me is different, obviously, from the closeness I share with my brother, but he feels like family. We’ve bonded around peril and adventure and all the things young men chase when they have no real sense of their own mortality, their limits. We spent our wanderlust together in dozens of cities in a hundred different ways. Spent it on more women than I can count, but none of them were ever Nix.
I sit on the couch and open my iPad on Lennix’s coffee table. Despite the exhaustion weighting my arms and legs, I force myself to return emails and address the issues Jin Lei held while I focused on getting Lennix back. I need some serious libations to get through this pile of work that’s been waiting for me. I search the kitchen and cabinets, the small bar in one corner of the room, but all I find is wine.
“Damn, babe,” I mutter, reading the bottle of Bordeaux. “I was hoping for something stronger.”
I poke the fire and remove my socks and shoes, settling at the coffee table again. I’m not sure how long I work, but the fire goes out, and the bottle of wine is almost empty when Lennix’s bedroom door opens.
The sight of her arrests me. It’s her beauty, yes, as she leans into the doorframe like it’s the only thing holding her up. But more than how impossibly beautiful she is, it’s her life I appreciate most. The simple lift and fall of her chest with each precious breath. I want to feel her heart pressed to mine, beating reassurance into every part of me until I’m sure that she’s actually safe.
Dark hair tumbles around her shoulders, and there’s a sleep print etched into the smooth, unbruised skin of one high cheekbone. In her white-silk pajamas, she’s soft and sleep-mussed.
The thing I’ve been trying to ignore since I held her in that jungle rears in me. It’s primitive and too rough and too soon after what she’s been through. Every cell in my body screams with the need to reclaim her physically. To stamp myself into her skin and feel the imprint of her burned into mine.
But I can’t because it wouldn’t be gentle or soft or considerate. It would be a hard and pounding and unrelenting fuck. I need to feel her under me and know she’s safe in my bed, in my arms. To have her to myself so completely, the fear that somebody will one day take her from me subsides. I need to fuck that fear away, but I won’t do that to her. It’s selfish and base, and she’s the best thing in my life. I won’t corrupt her with that.
“Hey,” I greet her.
“Hey.” Her voice is husky with fatigue. “What time is it? Why are you out here?”
Because I don’t trust myself with you right now.
“Work,” I answer instead, pointing to the iPad and the papers sprawled over the coffee table. “Jin Lei’s already cracking the whip.”
Lennix nods and walks farther into the room, coming closer. I swallow hard. The sight of her looking so pure in the snowy pajamas, her pretty bare feet peeking from beneath the wide silk bottoms, is more than I can take right now.
“It doesn’t take long to get behind,” she says, sitting beside me on the couch.
“No time at all.” I force my eyes back to the iPad, even though the letters of the document run together onscreen. “Been taking the last few hours to start catching up.”