Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Her cheeks flushed pink. “No,” she said, slapping his shoulder, then she pursed her lips. “Well, maybe a little.”
“Congrats, baby.” He leaned in and kissed her. “That’s fantastic news.”
“It is!” She did a happy little wiggle, which had intense sensation shooting through his oversensitive cock, making him gasp. “Oh, sorry!” Her laugh negated the apology.
“Sure you are.” Gently as could be, he slipped free of her warmth and lowered her legs to the floor.
Beth frowned. “I liked it better up there in your arms.”
God, she was too damn sweet. “Me too.”
“I should get cleaned up.” She pointed toward the bathroom. “And find some underwear you haven’t shredded.”
He chuckled at that. “If you left any here, I can’t make any promise that I didn’t tear them up.”
“Perv,” she said, laughing as she strode past him toward the bathroom.
Fifteen minutes later, wearing sweatpants she’d left at his place, Beth sat next to him on the couch. He immediately lifted her legs into his lap, turning her to face him, then took her hand and interlaced their fingers. Hers was so much smaller, yet fit like they’d been cut to interlock perfectly.
Beth stared at their joined hands with intense concentration.
“Hey,” he said in a low voice.
She glanced up, and the shimmer in her eyes hit worse than the most brutal gut punch.
“No, baby, don’t…” Fuck, the thought of her crying over him, over them, crushed him.
She blinked and forced a weak laugh. “I’m just being stupid.”
“You aren’t. You couldn’t be stupid if you tried.”
“Ha. You forget how you found me a month ago.”
“Beth, that wasn’t stupidity. That was fucking survival.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, well…”
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear with his free hand, then smoothed his thumb over her cheek. “I want this, Beth. I want you. For real. Not just quick, secret fucks or dinners hiding in my house. I want dates. I want to dance with you at club parties. I want you in my lap, wrapped in my arms, when we sit around the bonfire with our family. I want entire nights to explore you. I want to wake up, slide inside you, and hear you moan my name first thing in the morning. I fucking want you in every aspect of my life.”
A tear rolled down her cheek, breaking his heart. He swiped it away with a gentle brush of his thumb. “Saint,” she whispered as she nuzzled into his palm. “I want that too. So much that I can barely breathe because of it. Every time I leave you here by yourself, it feels like a limb is being torn from my body. I ache for you, lying alone in my bed at night. But I don’t know how to move forward without causing chaos.”
“We’ll make it work. We will find a way. Beth, I’m a stubborn motherfucker when I want something. If I have to, I’ll leav—”
“No!” She pressed her fingertips to his lips, squashing the life-changing words he’d have spoken. “I will not let you do that. I can’t be the reason you lose your family, Lee. That would destroy me. We’ll find another way. Promise me you won’t do that.” Her voice trembled with near panic.
He kissed her fingertips, then gently pulled them from his lips. The words scraped like glass coming out. “All right. I promise.” He’d have done it. In a fucking heartbeat, he’d have walked away from everything for her. But he swallowed that truth and gave her the lie she needed.
He might not have a choice anyway. Once Copper found out, he might be cast out of the family, no matter what he promised Beth. He just hoped they’d let him live.
“Okay. Good. Thank you.” She shifted until she straddled him. After a sweet, desperate kiss, she wrapped her arms around him and lay her head on his chest, clinging to him like a monkey. Saint slipped a hand under her shirt, stroking up and down her back as he stared off into space.
They stayed that way for a long time, taking comfort from touch and enjoying the peace of each other’s presence.
This was worth fighting for.
This was everything, and no matter what happened, he’d find a way to keep Beth by his side.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
BETH BRUSHED A sweaty strand of hair off her forehead with the back of her arm. Her gloved hands were covered in bleach and aching from hours of scrubbing the inside of her new grooming salon. The place had sat vacant for almost a year, and before that, it had been a nail salon. Thick dust had accumulated over the months, and at some point, someone had been squatting there, as food wrappers littered the floor. She cleaned those up quickly with a push broom, but she’d wanted to give the entire space a proper scrub down before equipment began arriving next week.