Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Fuck,” he said, leaning back against the wall, his adoring gaze sliding over me, from head to feet and back again.
My own gaze slid over him, loving the look of him without his shirt, but wishing he was just as bare as I was, that I could be learning every square inch of him like he was me.
Eventually, after what felt like hours, he turned to grab the bedding, then came toward the bed, and I got to watch as he draped the flat sheet and comforter over me, then slid on his pillowcase before coming toward me, taking mine, and covering it too.
Then, as if he’d sensed my desire for it, he’d gone to the foot of the bed, and, eyes on me, he pushed down his pants, then slid down his boxer briefs, leaving him completely naked.
A little whimpering sound escaped me, making his eyes go warm and his lips twitch upward ever so slightly before he made his way to his side of the bed and climbed in.
Then, either worn out from his ordeal earlier, or lulled by the complete quiet of this little safe house, Judah let us curl up together and sleep through the night in each other’s arms.
It was the happiest I’d been in longer than I could remember.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Aurelio
I slipped out of bed in the early hours of the morning, pulling my pants back on, then going in to lift the babbling Judah out of his crib, and bringing him into the kitchen to get some food going.
At some point during the night, the guard had brought bags of Judah’s toys and his highchair up to the front door. But after breakfast, I had to bring Judah with me, back and forth, to get the rest of the stuff out of the car, since this house wasn’t the least bit baby-proofed.
Claire slept long and deep, not so much as shifting her position until it was nearly ten in the morning.
I was sitting playing blocks on the floor with Judah as she suddenly ran out of the room, wearing nothing but my shirt I’d left on the floor the night before, only one button secured, and flying into Judah’s room. Then back out in a panic.
“Oh,” she said, her shoulders loosening when her gaze landed on us. “Hey,” she said as Judah got up and walked over to her.
“Play blocks,” he said, reaching for her hand, and pulling her toward me.
Where I got to watch with no small amount of amusement as she tried to sit down without exposing herself.
“What time is it?” she asked as she piled a brick on top of the house Judah was building. I say Judah because anytime I tried to add a block, Judah shook his head and removed it. Apparently, my building skills were not up to snuff.
“Ten. There’s fresh coffee and some cold eggs,” I told her.
“Why didn’t you wake me?” she asked as I looked at her gorgeous face, marked with dark blue and purple bruises on her jaw and cheek that had my body tensing.
“You deserve to sleep in every now and again, angel,” I said, shrugging.
“Moms don’t really get that luxury,” she said.
“They do when they have someone around who cares about them,” I shot back, watching the way a shy little smile toyed with her lips as her gaze slid away.
“Mama,” Judah called, making her head whip over.
“Yeah, baby?”
“What’s this?” he asked, reaching up toward her face. I imagined he was just trying to touch her cheek, but he ended up slapping her hard enough for her to suck in her breath.
“Just a boo-boo,” Claire said, and I could hear the pain in her voice as she said it. Not the physical kind. The internal kind. At having to make excuses for the evidence of violence on her skin that his father had put there.
Judah took this at face value, though, and leaned upward to press a wet kiss to her jaw.
“All better,” he said before going back to his blocks.
“Mama’s going to go get some coffee,” she told him, using my shoulder to help her get to her feet.
I followed her a minute later, after glancing around to make sure there was nothing Judah could get into.
“Thanks,” she said over the lip of her mug. “I don’t think I realized how much I needed some solid sleep until I got some.”
“It’s peaceful here,” I agreed.
“Are there no neighbors?” she asked. “It was too dark to tell last night.”
“We’re backed up to protected woodlands, and there aren’t any houses for about a five-minute drive. This way, whoever is staying here would be able to tell if someone who is approaching, doesn’t belong here.”
“That makes sense. And there’s no one around to realize that no one is ever in the house.”
“Exactly. The only people who ever come here are the lawn service guys. And they would just assume the residents are at work.”