Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
There was a long moment of silence, until he reached out and gently cupped her chin, tilting her face back. She stared at him miserably.
“Maybe it would have been easier,” he told her. “But it wouldn’t have been the truth, would it? And the truth is what is important. Protecting you is what is important. And that protection isn’t just physical. I have to look after you emotionally as well. I do want to put you in a bubble. It would make my life so much easier.” He smiled ruefully as she snorted. “But as much as I’d like to pretend otherwise, I do understand what you’re saying. I can protect and look after you, but I can’t . . . smother you.”
“Right. I can’t live in a bubble. Sure, nothing might touch me. But I’d be lonely and sad. That’s not the way to live a life.”
“I just can’t stand to lose you,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d survive.”
She cupped his cheek with her good hand. “I promise to do everything that I can to keep myself safe.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You thought stomping out embers in slippers was a good idea?”
“All right . . . that wasn’t smart. You might need to teach me how to use the fireplace. I’ve never had one. And bad things can happen no matter how careful you are. But you have to promise me if anything does happen that you’ll carry on.”
Hayes scowled. “Nothing can happen to you.”
Right. Maybe she was pushing him too far.
“Nothing will happen to me,” she reassured him. “But say we had children and say something did happen to me. . . you . . . you’d have to carry on for them. You would do that, right?”
He closed his eyes, looking pained. “Fuck. Your father.”
“I . . . you would have to promise me that you’d look after them if I was gone.”
Opening his eyes, he pierced her with his gaze. “I will, baby. I promise you. I’m not your father. There would be a huge hole inside me without you. But our children would know nothing but love and protection.”
Relief filled her. She smiled, her lips trembling. “I love you, Hayes.”
“I love you too, baby. But this isn’t something you have to worry about because nothing is happening to you.”
She had to grin. “I know it’s not. I know we’re going to live until we’re old and gray and you’re a cantankerous old man. Oh, wait . . .”
“Brat,” he growled at her.
Getting up, he sat next to her on the sofa then drew her onto his lap, holding her tight.
“I will admit that maybe I have taken a few things too far, but you’re not to touch that fireplace until I’ve shown you what to do and I’m certain that you are confident in using it. And it also won’t be until after your arm is better. Because doing that with one good arm is dangerous.”
“All right, I can agree to that.”
“Good girl.” Grasping hold of her chin, he turned her to face him. Then he kissed her lightly before pulling back to stare down at her.
“What is it?" she asked.
“I have something to tell you.”
Uh oh. Nothing good ever came after someone said those words to her.
Fuck.
He’d nearly fucked up.
Although he still thought that she had put herself at risk, he also understood that their ideas of risk differed a lot. And he understood why she thought the ‘no going near fire’ wasn’t actually a real rule.
What he really hated was that she’d had to use her safeword with him. That he’d been so far stuck in the past, in his head, that he hadn’t paid heed to what she’d been trying to tell him.
Yeah. He really hated that.
And he felt guilty. Thank fuck he’d listened when she’d said her safeword. He could never live with himself if he’d broken that trust between them.
“What is it?”
“Zander called. The Satan’s Sons headquarters were hit last night. Several people in masks raided it and tore the place up, shooting anyone in their path.”
“Oh my God!” she said, putting her hand over her mouth.
“Thirteen people were killed and twenty-four were badly injured. One of the people who died was Fury.”
“Who . . . who do they think did it?”
“Well, Gwen has actually made a friend of Detective Williams, remember him?”
She nodded.
“He said the leading theory is that it was the Black Scorpions. That they wanted to knock out their rivals. But there’s no real evidence.”
“Wow,” she said. “That’s . . . that’s insane. Do you think it was Lucan Mars?”
“Perhaps. The Satan’s Sons have been wiped out. Even if they didn’t kill the guys that grabbed your father from the trailer, they’re likely injured or now on the run in fear of their lives.”
She seemed to think about that for a long moment. “I didn’t want that, you know.”