Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Remy cleared his throat. “Actually, the guys downstairs are just visual preventatives. It’s not like someone who wanted to hurt you couldn’t get past them.”
Her eyes widened and those gorgeous, pouty lips parted. “I’m not safe in my own home? I have kids and… dammit. I can’t have them over until this is resolved.” Frustrated tears welled in her eyes.
“You could be perfectly safe as long as someone who could handle themselves was with you,” Jared said.
Remy drummed his fingers on the desk, his mouth turned upward in a smirk.
His brother either thought Jared was using this situation to get closer to Charlotte or he understood him at her apartment, or vice versa, would accomplish the same thing.
“I sparred with Remy for years.” Jared felt confident in his ability to protect himself and Charlotte, at least in hand-to-hand fighting.
She shook her head as if to clear it. “What are you saying? Just spell it out.”
He glanced at Remy. “Give us a minute?”
His brother nodded. “Take all the time you need,” he said, and strode out of the office, closing the door behind him.
“I agree the girls should stay with Noah and Fallon until this is resolved. You’d have a bodyguard during the day and me at night until your security arrives in the morning to see you to work.” He bluntly spelled it out for her. “I won’t risk your safety, period.”
She rose and paced the small room. “It’s not like being with you is a hardship, but I don’t want to put you out.”
She hadn’t shot down the idea out of hand and that was a good sign. “I honestly don’t mind.” He stood and walked over to where she looked out the window at the parking lot. “If it makes you feel better, you could stay with me.”
Her silence weighed heavy around him, so he picked up on something else she’d said. “Being with me isn’t a hardship, huh?”
She turned and met his gaze then, a smile on her face. “No, Mr. Huge Ego, it’s not a hardship. I just hate turning our lives upside down because my brother can’t get his shit together.” She dipped her head and said, “I’m sorry. I know you didn’t sign up for this.”
He strode over to her and stepped so close, he backed her against the wall beside the window. Lingering notes of her perfume, a warm, sensual scent, reached his nose and his body responded despite the time for arousal being all wrong.
“I signed up for you. And I refuse to risk your safety, so you have a choice. A bodyguard twenty-four seven or me at night. You decide.” He drew a deep breath and let it out again. “Besides, it’s not like being with you is a hardship either.” He grinned and it broke the tension.
“Bossy man,” she said, but treated him to the most genuine smile he’d seen since picking her up earlier. Then she reached up and stroked his cheek. “I choose you,” she said, repeating his words back to him.
The knot in his stomach eased.
“But I have two conditions.” She held up her fingers in a V.
“Name them.”
“I stay by you so it’s me that has to pack up and be inconvenienced, not you. And we already agreed on this but I don’t bring the girls home until I know for sure it’s safe.”
He nodded, unable to argue with either point. “Done.” Before she could respond, he braced his hands on her thickening waist, loving the changes in her body, thanks to their child, dipped his head, and pressed his lips to hers.
She moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck, accepting the kiss. But it was also the fact that she trusted him to keep her safe that did something for him and he deepened the connection. His tongue wound its way around hers, then stroked the inside of her mouth until she was rubbing up against him like a kitten, her body seeking his.
A knock on the door interrupted the moment. “Fuck my brother,” he muttered and resumed his assault, but a second knock had her slipping away from him.
He glanced over to find her touching her well-kissed lips. He started for the door and flung it open. “What?” he barked, expecting to see his oldest sibling.
Instead, it was Raven.
Her gaze flew from him to Charlotte, and her cheeks flushed pink at the realization that she’d interrupted. “I just thought I’d see if you or Charlie wanted something to eat.” She waved at Charlotte who now stood behind him. “But I think I’m needed at the bar. Let me know if I can get you anything. Bye,” she said and was gone in an instant.
Charlotte groaned, burying her face in her hands. “Mortifying,” she said once she’d removed them.
“Nothing those two haven’t done in here before us,” he assured her.