Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“Great,” I muttered under my breath. “He must be peachy keen.”
Ignoring the anxiety exuding from my pores, I waited until she was gone to make my way to his bedroom. After I knocked, I heard Caspian’s voice, telling me to enter.
Gathering my resolve, I opened the door and came face-to-face with the man who’d taken a lashing for simply kissing me. My heart couldn’t have felt more broken than it did at that moment. I was used to seeing Onyx strong and determined. There, leaning against his headboard and sitting up in his bed, he looked anything but that.
He appeared exhausted despite being knocked out for almost two days.
Finding my voice, I greeted, “Hey.”
Caspian was smiling like a Chester cat, exiting the same way I walked in.
He shut the door behind him, and I resisted the urge to lean against it. Instead, I walked twenty steps to the side of his bed, counting to not lose my nerve.
Meeting his tired eyes, I declared, “I made you some soup.”
His gaze shifted to the container in my hands. I opened it to show him. It was nice and steamy.
“What’s in it?” he questioned.
“It’s aguadito. It’s Peruvian and has chicken, potatoes, a little rice, some cilantro, and healing spices.”
“Healing spices, huh?”
I nodded, not looking at him. Sitting down beside him, I placed the drinks on his nightstand, opening his first and then mine.
“It’s Inca Kola, Peruvian too. Some people say it tastes like pink bubble gum and others say it resembles a banana flavor.”
“What do you think it tastes like?”
I could tell by his tone he was flirting with me.
Still not meeting his intense stare, I shrugged. “Good.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” He went to grab it, hissing when he moved his arm in that direction.
“Here,” I said, holding it instead. “I’ll do it for you.”
Holding the straw to his mouth, he drank a sip.
“What do you think?” I asked when he was done, setting it back down on his nightstand.
“It tastes like candy.”
“You don’t like it?”
“I didn’t say that.” He nodded to the soup in my lap. “Are you going to feed me next?”
I shrugged again. “If you want me to.”
Again, in a flirty tone, he teased, “What did I do to deserve this?”
This time, my gaze connected with his. He looked almost amused, but at the same time endeared by me.
“It’s just food.”
“That you made from scratch for me?”
Like a true Peruvian, I simply stated, “I made enough to feed an army. I can bring you more if you like it.”
Obviously enjoying the attention, he baited, “Did you poison it?”
I smiled. “I guess you won’t know until you try it.”
He joked. “You first.”
I played along, eating a bite off the spoon. Impressed with how great it tasted.
He called me out, “Pleased with yourself?”
“We’ll see.” I scooped another bite with chicken and a piece of potato and fed it to him.
“You keeping me alive?” He grinned.
“Does that mean you like it?”
“I like that you made it.”
I bowed my head, filling another spoonful for him.
“Hennessy.”
I glanced up at him.
“I like it.”
A smiled, not trying to hide it.
For the next fifteen minutes, I fed him as if I were his own private nurse. Once he was finished, I gave him his pain meds that had a big red warning label that stressed not to handle heavy machinery or drive because it causes drowsiness.
Next, I washed the bowls and silverware in the sink at his bar in the corner of the room, then dried them with a towel I threw in his hamper when I was done.
I turned to see his expression had changed. He looked almost alarmed.
“What?” I blurted.
“Nothing, come here.”
Shaking it off, I walked past the back of his computer screen, making my way toward him.
Unable to oppose, I addressed the elephant in the room, “Did you really take a lashing from the Brotherhood because you kissed me?”
“Fucking, Caspian…” he rasped under his breath.
“Then it’s true?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Putting the containers and silverware away in the bag, I pointed out, “It does to me.”
He considered it for a moment. “The damage is done.”
“No, you’re going to scar.”
Scooting down a little on the bed, he alleged, “I’ll just add it to the others.”
“Onyx…” I could tell he was getting tired and sleepy.
“Come here.”
“I am here.”
“No,” he insisted, pulling me to him. “Come here.”
I willingly went, gently laying my head on his chest.
“Better,” he said.
Within seconds, he was passed out cold. I stayed there with him, listening to his soft breathing and the lull of his heartbeat. Somewhere outside, the harsh sound of thunder rolled by before it started to pour. A few of his blinds were shut, but the one from his balcony wasn’t, and I watched the rain cascade down the glass, realizing how close my bedroom was to his.
I instantly wondered if he watched me in my bedroom. He could literally see right over to mine. Somewhere along the way, I began to drift off to sleep myself.