Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
The man lunged and caught me, leaving us tangled inside the tiny area. He grabbed Camdyn’s foot and tried to bring him down too. My bràthair’s foot slammed against the man’s face. A bright blue light from his light-up tennis shoes brightened the space, allowing me to get a better glimpse of the man we needed to get away from. But I was terrified. I was—
The man shuffled back on his knees, taking me with him. With a scream stuck in my throat, I went down the slide with him pulling and tugging at me.
Once he stood up off the slide, I bit down on his thumb as he tried to cover my mouth. A fist, larger than my face, smashed into my eye and cheek. Indescribable pain surged through me. I couldn’t tell Camdyn to stop. To stay where he was because he rushed down the slide after us.
Once more, a fist slammed against my face, and when I came to, my head bounced on the inside of a car. The door opened.
I groaned, only able to see through one eye. “Cam—”
The car chased off like a predator in the jungle. The person on the other side of me tugged me down to the floor of the vehicle and pinned Camdyn’s arm in the door, trying to shut it.
I popped up from the couch. “Noooo!” That nightmare. Why had it come back? I’d rather the ones where I’d made a fool of myself when trying to steal Willow from Camdyn in high school. At least then, she talked me down from losing the last bit of mind I had. She’d understood why I’d wanted to build a jungle gym in her backyard for her baby. I wanted to save—
A feminine scream pierced through the darkness.
I strode to the glass wall facing the ocean and glanced over the darkened shore. My palm pressed against the cold glass. There.
Jordyn. Moonlight glinted over the steel briefcase she wedged into the sand. She ran toward the waves, removing clothing with every step.
Though she was a stone’s throw away, I didn’t even think military defense mapping would help me see the real her. Not with that stonewall facade around her heart. But I’d be damned if I didn’t try.
9
SANTA BARBARA
Jordyn
Days Free: 1
Naked, I floated on my back in the cold water off the California Central Coast, staring at a spray of stars.
Had I lost my mind?
Not at all.
Finally, I found it after years of entrapment. Free! The cold water didn’t bother me; I reveled in my freedom. A deep inhale of the briny air, and I let the water push, pull, lift, tug. Hell, the male species had done the same to me all my life. Now this, I didn’t mind while lying beneath a sliver of moon.
In my peripheral, I saw movement along the shore and shot up to a standing position. My toes jammed into the soft, wet sand. I waded to shore like I belonged in the Garden of Eden before guilt made humans cover themselves.
My gaze followed a dog speeding ahead as its owner ambled behind, hands in pockets, a towel tucked beneath his massive arm.
That dog. Remi? Reign? “Rebel, stop!” My eyes widened.
“Rebel, sit,” Jamie ordered. Although the dog obeyed, Jamie seemed to realize I wanted to avoid the mangy mutt. He picked up a small piece of driftwood and tossed it. “Fetch.”
The dog took off like a firecracker. Okay, maybe she wasn’t a mangy mutt. She had the shiniest coat ever and the longest, whitest teeth. Wait a minute. Long teeth? I trembled in the night.
Jamie must’ve thought I was cold. Probably should’ve been. He’d shocked my heart to life twenty-four hours ago. He held out a towel and wrapped me in it. I waited for his powerful arms to encircle my waist, but he stepped back. Nor had he looked anywhere but my eyes when wrapping me into the soft towel that caressed my skin like a dream.
Was I not pretty to—?
My head shook as I grappled with the confusion of being objectified. Who was I now? Free. “Thank you.”
He shrugged.
“No. Not for the towel. Well, yes. For the towel.” Girl, you could’ve been a courtesan in ancient Rome and knocked Ceasar down to size. What is wrong with you? Sound coherent. “I appreciate the towel, but if the man standing in front of me is the real you—”
“It is,” he declared, voice deep. “No pretenses, Jordyn.”
“Alright.” I lifted a shoulder. “So, I owe you for saving my life.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Well, I have to repay you.” Would he have a fetish? Would he—No. I wanted to believe he wasn’t like that. Same as I had assumed with Katlego. Although kings in South Africa weren’t absolute monarchs, he included me in ceremonies. Wined and dined me. Took me into more wealthy territories and on excursions throughout Cape Town, Cape Peninsula, Garden Route. It was different.