Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 157162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
“You still want me in your bed?” I blinked at him. “After everything I told you.”
His lips quirked. “Calliope, I will always want you in my bed. You can’t scare me away with parts of your life you think I can’t handle. I’ll handle it all. Now go to fucking bed.”
Again, I didn’t argue with him. I was too tired. Too greedy for the scant amount of nights I had left with him. I nodded then walked down the hallway to his bedroom.
I memorized every step, every frame on the wall, the contours of the wood beneath my feet. Soon, memories would be all I had left.
ELLIOT
I wasn’t surprised to see the man skulking in the shadows when I took the trash out as Calliope got ready for bed. I wasn’t surprised because at the restaurant, I’d immediately clocked his intense, possessive gaze on Calliope. I knew then that his seemingly easy retreat was not going to be that simple. Before I’d known the truth of how despicable the man was, I’d realized that he was going to be a thorn in my side. That somehow, he had caused pain to Calliope, and that he intended on causing more because of the want I saw blazing in his eyes.
I also wasn’t surprised because I’d installed security cameras after the shooting, when Calliope started spending every night at my house, even staying on the nights I was out on the boat. Her safety was my top priority.
From what Calliope had told me about Jasper, I knew he saw the discreet cameras that Calliope hadn’t even noticed. That he had purposefully put himself in the frame.
He wasn’t there for Calliope. He was there for me. To scare me, threaten me, I didn’t give a fuck. There was nothing that man could do to make me let go of Calliope.
I didn’t greet him straightaway. I opened the trash lid, threw in the bag, closed it then turned slowly.
“You’re on private property.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Though I doubt that matters to you.”
“No.” He stepped out of the shadows, straightening the lapel of what was no doubt an expensive suit.
He looked like the kind of man I would’ve expected to see Calliope with the first day I met her on the dock. But not since I got to know her. Not once I discovered her fire. Her heart. Her fucking soul.
This man with the dead eyes would never be worthy of her, no matter how much he paid for his suits.
“I figured it would be apt for us to have a discussion without Calliope dominating it. I’m familiar with the way she takes control over most conversations. Most people.”
There was a gleam in his eye. His unsaid message was that she was too strong for me, that I couldn’t handle her.
“I don’t have a problem with my woman taking control,” I told him. “She’s capable. And I’m comfortable letting her take the lead.”
I didn’t stoop so low as to even insinuate that I could take the lead in other places, although the baser parts of me wanted to throw that in his face. Even though she hadn’t spoken about their physical relationship—the mere thought of his hands on her made me want to rip his fucking limbs off—I knew instinctively that she’d never trusted him to take control. To let go completely. That was a gift she gave only to me. One I’d hold sacred.
“Don’t mistake my easygoing demeanor for weakness.” I was looking in the eye of someone I was rapidly beginning to hate with a malice I hadn’t known I was capable of. “If you try to hurt Calliope, you will see just how easygoing I am not when it comes to my woman.”
He showed his teeth, white and straight, and I wanted them embedded in my knuckles. Never had I felt such murderous fury in my life.
“I don’t mistake you for being weak,” he replied mildly. “I just know I’m stronger. And I’m willing to fight dirtier to ensure I own Calliope.”
My blood boiled as I fought to keep my composure. He was trying to rile me. That much I knew. He had come to my restaurant, now my home, to scare me, to stake his claim. Neither of which I was going to allow.
“If you have to fight to own Calliope, without knowing she isn’t a possession, then she was never yours to begin with, and she’s lost to you forever.” Satisfaction swam through me as I stepped forward. “And you place one foot on any property I own again, we’ll have problems.”
“You own?” He arched a brow. “Or does Calliope? Since she’s the one who paid off all of your debts.”
I didn’t let my shock show. Though it did surprise me that he had access to that kind of shit. He was swinging his dick, showing me how powerful he was, trying to make me feel less than. But I couldn’t feel less than when Calliope slept next to me every night.