Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
The scent of vanilla and cinnamon clung to her hair, and this time, it was me who was inhaling deeply. Several times. Damn, did she have to smell like a snack too? No strong perfume or body sprays. Just fresh and delicate and too motherfucking innocent for me.
I’d been pissed that Mal had taken a swing at me, but I’d deserved it. If he knew I was holding her at night, it would be more than his fist he aimed at me. It would be his Glock. I shouldn’t have said the Daddy thing to him. I’d crossed the line, but that was me. I always did. I didn’t like fucking lines. Or rules.
Which was why Mal didn’t want me near his daughter. He knew I wanted to fuck her. I wasn’t going to though. That was what he didn’t understand. But then I didn’t understand it either. The protective shit I had going on in my head with her wouldn’t let me fuck her. That would hurt her. Not the fucking—that would be mind-blowing. She’d never recover from it. But the after—when I continued to live my life. She’d want more. Expect more. It was likely she’d get addicted to my cock.
I mean, that didn’t sound terrible…no. That was bad. Because I wasn’t a one-woman guy. Never had been. Never would be. Not even for the prettiest ocean eyes I’d ever seen. The new would wear off. I’d get bored. I’d tried that shit once. With Kye’s mother. Thank fuck Chloe was smarter than I was. She knew what I was like and called me on it. Refused to live with me or marry me. I had never been more relieved in my life.
Lace’s breathing slowed, and her grip on my shirt loosened. I should go now. She was over her nightmare. I watched her chest rise and fall. My presence was no longer needed. There was still time to go out for the night. Remind my head what it was I wanted.
I just had to be careful to ease out from under her so that it didn’t move her in a way that hurt her side. Just as I made the smallest move, her hand fisted my shirt again.
Shit.
“Stay,” she mumbled groggily.
Ah hell.
“Nightmare is over, sugar,” I replied and tried to move again.
She tilted her head back to gaze up at me. Her heavy-lidded eyes locked with mine, and breathing became an issue as my throat felt suddenly tight.
“Don’t go.”
This was where leaving would set the ground rules with us. Wean her off me. I stared down at her, and while all the reasons I should leave were hammering off a mile-long list in my head, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to get up. It was like she had a grip on something more than my shirt. One I couldn’t budge. Not even loosen.
“Okay,” I agreed, leaning back on the headboard again and sighing.
She laid her head back against my chest and somehow wedged even closer to me. “Thank you.” Her voice was soft, and the relief in it might as well be a goddamn chain locking me down.
I closed my eyes and gave in. To hell with all the common sense I’d tried to have. I was going to fuck this up anyway. It was already a hell of a mess.
Twenty-Six
Lace
Three nights ago, I’d asked Luther to stay with me in bed, and he had. But I didn’t know for how long because when I woke up that morning, he was gone. Not just from my room, but the house. And he hadn’t returned.
When I’d walked in the kitchen this morning, Jayda whispering something to Linc and the overly bright smile she gave me hadn’t gone unnoticed.
Luther wasn’t here, and I was beginning to think it was because of me.
The tight knot in my stomach was getting bigger, and deep breaths were starting to become difficult. I had been too clingy, too needy. I’d never had someone to cling to, and my desire to be near Luther had become too much. He’d distanced himself to get away from me.
Wincing, I swallowed the bile in my throat. I was keeping him from his home.
Why had I thought Luther would be different? The other men in my life before coming here had only wanted to use me for their benefit or gain. I had nothing to give Luther. My existence in his life didn’t better it. All I had been was a burden to him, and he’d been so kind that I read it wrong.
It was time for me to go even if the thought of leaving was equally painful. Mal wanted me to move to his house. And I needed to go where I was wanted, not tolerated. My welcome here was over, and Luther was making it clear he was ready for me to leave.