Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
My body betrays me. A shiver ripples down my spine, every muscle tightening. The brush of his thumb near my cheekbone sends sparks low in my belly. I should move. I should push him away. Instead I’m rooted to the spot, my chest rising fast, heat pooling where I don’t want it.
He leans closer, not touching but filling my space until I can’t breathe without drawing him in. His voice is a rasp, low and rough. “Planning something?”
My heart slams against my ribs. He knows. Of course he knows.
I shift my weight, but his hand slides, slow and possessive, down the side of my neck. The pressure is light, almost tender, but there’s nothing gentle in the way he does it. It’s control. A warning. A reminder that escape won’t be easy.
I shudder, and his dark eyes narrow, catching it. Not missing a single reaction.
“You’re shaking,” he murmurs, his breath warm against my skin. “Afraid of me?”
Yes. No. Both. My body hums with it, fear and want tangled too tight to separate. “I need to take a shower.” My voice shakes.
His phone buzzes. Saving me? He releases me and tugs it from his back pocket to read. “I have a meeting soon that’ll go late, but have time for an early dinner first. Be in the kitchen in fifteen minutes, or I’m coming for you. Shower or not.”
I stand there. “Um, okay.” We’re playing house now?
“You can write out the code for the virus while I’m gone. I want to have it. Maybe I can take it and find a cure for myself.”
There’s no cure just in the code. It’s about energy. At least it was with Thorn. “You’ll use the virus to harm the other social media companies.” He won’t be able to help himself.
“It’s up to me how to use it.” He turns and walks out of the room.
I stand there, my mind spinning and my body firing. The truth coils sharp and quiet inside me. I have no idea if I can help him, or what he’ll do with me when the work is finished, if it ever is. I can’t give him the code. I also can’t stay with him. Because, even though I know better, it’s not just my body wanting him now.
I can handle a good spanking.
I can’t handle a broken heart.
I don’t know how.
TWENTY
Ella
I don’t want to leave Leo. That’s the problem and the weight in my chest even as the house creaks quietly around me at two in the morning. Justice left for some meeting after I went to bed, after cooking for me like we had some type of relationship, after warning me about the guards in the trees and the animals hunting the grounds. I believed him. Of course I did. But there isn’t a moat out here. No killer trench filled with beasts like Thorn’s place. That means I have a chance.
I feel a little guilty but I can’t stay here. We kind of have an agreement, but this is too much. I’m falling for the guy, and I can’t afford that. Worse yet, he’ll make me give him that computer code, and I think it’s almost his responsibility to take down the other companies—and families. It’s in his damn DNA, which I can understand. I have it, too. It’s a good thing women are so much more evolved than men. I know the virus should be buried forever.
His loyalty will always be to his organization. Not to me. This has gone too far already. Running is what I do best.
My instincts scream that he pretty much owns my body now, and I’m not ready for that. But I can’t stop feeling him all around me. Inside me. I have to run.
He’s just too … Justice.
Plus, and I can admit this only to myself, I like the challenge of outwitting him. It’s dangerous, and I’m sure foolhardy, but adrenaline still flows through my veins. The idea actually turns me on.
I am so screwed up.
I wait until the clouds smother the moon before I crouch next to Leo. His head lifts instantly, eyes glowing in the dark, ears cocked like he knows the plan. “Okay,” I whisper, curling my hand into his fur. “Let’s go.”
He wags his tail like I just promised him steak. He’s stronger than when we first pulled him from that hell. Loyal in a way I don’t deserve. My throat tightens. “You realize I don’t have a life for a dog, right? I like you, but I’m always running.” He licks my hand, tail wagging harder, calling me a liar without words. What have I gotten into?
We slip out the back door onto the wide wraparound porch. The cliff falls away beneath us, the Pacific hammering at the rocks below. Spray leaps so high it catches my face, cold, wild, and salty. The night air tastes alive. For a second, it feels like freedom.