Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 45702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“I hate mentioning it, but I can see what this is doing to you, Rocco. And I feel like it’s all because of me,” I tell him.
Not wanting to make it all about me, but I know he could travel faster and lighter without me.
God forbid he ever would, though.
He doesn’t answer straight away. Instead, his face becomes unreadable.
Infuriating me, but at the same time driving me wild with desire for him again.
He’s just so damned perfect.
Sultry, dark. And then smiling like sunshine before he’s all serious again.
I love him, though, no doubt about that.
“It is all because of you, Jasmine,” he finally says, sounding impatient but not blaming me.
I open my mouth, but no words come out.
Rocco spells it out again for me without taking his hands off the wheel or his eyes off the road.
“The minute I saw you, I wanted you, alright? And with the mix-up of who’s who and you being grabbed, I saw my perfect chance.”
I crease my mouth at being reminded again.
If it was anyone else, I’d say, ‘Aww, how sweet.’
But because it’s me, I have this hard-wired response that I’m somehow no good, that a guy like Rocco is way out of my league.
“I know going south sounds stupid. It does to me as well. But it’s the only place I know people who can maybe help us. Help us get away for good. So I can show you the life you deserve,” he adds.
Looking frustrated, he has so many barriers up against something that feels so natural.
I never mentioned I thought going south was stupid but I feel a smile playing at the side of my lips, thinking about how we do think along the same lines.
“We don’t have to argue about it,” I say soothingly, diffusing any tension with a simple movement of my hand placed on a certain part of his lap.
His lip twitches, finally smiling and pressing his hand over mine.
“I’m not arguing,” Rocco replies firmly.
“I don’t think I could win an argument with you anyway,” he finally chuckles before taking a sharp breath.
My hand is right where he wants it, and we haven’t even stopped for breakfast yet, let alone had time for me to think about anything like that so soon after last night.
“How far south do you wanna go?” I coo, surprising myself with just how forward I’m feeling.
I don’t even mind if I sound desperate to Rocco because come to think of it, I am desperate for him.
Like all the time now, every second of every minute is charged with just wanting more of him.
“You mean that?” he asks, glancing down at me.
And he’s not talking about my hand on his crotch either.
Do I mean it about how far south as in, should we turn around right now?
“What about your friends that can help?” I ask him.
If I’m already the reason for him making our escape like this, I don’t want to be the one messing it up for us either.
Just because I don’t want to go south doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.
“What are our real choices?” I ask Rocco, pressing him to be totally realistic.
“This could get life or death, couldn’t it?” I ask, and he gives me a pained expression.
“Not for you. Not for us,” he says, sounding totally badass, but it’s not the answer I need right now to convince me he’s doing the right thing.
“Rocco, I don’t want us to turn around now and be the reason it’s all fucks up later,” I manage to explain.
Hoping I don’t sound too crazy, but I know he understands what I mean.
He doesn’t say anything right away, but after about a quarter of a mile, he slows the truck and checking both ways, he turns us around.
Heading north.
“Take it however you want, Jasmine,” he drawls. “But you got me thinking just now if I go to regular help. I’m likely to get regular results.”
I must look confused.
“Meaning: If I use family contacts to get us out of the country, how hard is it, or rather how easy would it be for said Family to find me? To find us.”
He lets his words sink in, and I get it.
It really is life or death, but Rocco’s only looking out for me as number one.
He’s number two because I know the other is nothing anyway without one of us right now.
“There’s a town not far north,” he finally grins, making his brow dance with suggestions as he makes some more pressing plans involving us stopping someplace.
Someplace nicer than an old abandoned house in a storm.
“Does it have a hot shower, this town I mean?” I ask, knowing full well the nearest ‘town’ is, in fact, a major city.
“Oh yeah,” he says enthusiastically. “And we might be able to pick up some new clothes too. For the sake of changing our appearance, of course,” he reasons, liking the look of my smile as I agree with him.