Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
There was going to be zero argument at my end. I pressed my lips together and kept my chin up, thinking about what I was going to name the future children I was going to get from Pascal. Sticking to a “D” theme might be cute. Duncan, Derek, Desiree….
A hand landed on my lower back, and I flinched as it brought the cold, damp clothing into direct contact with my skin. Henri’s hand retreated almost immediately. I was pretty sure I heard him curse before he moved to stand in front of me. His Great Wolf face was on, and so was his tone. “You need to take off your clothes.”
There was something wrong with me when the first thought that came into my head was an inappropriate joke to make in front of the kids.
“I already… wru-wrung them… out,” I stuttered instead.
That bulge at his temple started throbbing at the same time as the lines on his face went tighter than they’d already been. “You’re freezing, and the seat’s too small for you to sit on my lap so I can warm you up,” he informed me, like he wasn’t insinuating he would’ve snuggled me half naked if he could slide the seat back on the UTV.
A part of me wanted to argue, or even joke around with him because I’d missed him the last few weeks, but I didn’t have it in me. I was barely holding on from the cold, the shock, my discomfort from whatever had hit me in the water, and that freaking fear that had dumped through my body and brain. I watched as the boys climbed into the back seat and was surprised when Agnes came around, dropped to her knees, and took my shoes off, one at a time. She didn’t even look at me as she climbed into the back seat with the other two when she was done. I wrestled my shorts down my legs one more time, struggling to get them off my ankles, and then pulled my shirt over my head, trembling the whole time.
A silver emergency blanket went around my shoulders before I stood up straight. A foot pawed at mine, and Duncan stood there, holding the package for another blanket in his mouth. But it was Henri who had wrapped the first blanket around me and him who reached to take the second one from my boy. He shook it open and tugged it around my hips like a tiny towel, those warm hands almost making me hiss when they came in contact with my exposed skin.
He looked at me, and I could barely say, “Why… is your eye… twitching?”
His mouth went about as flat as his voice did. “Get into the UTV.”
So, somebody was still mad.
“Then, we’re going to drive back, and after that, you and I are going to have a conversation about why my eye is twitching, Cricket.”
I blinked, and he blinked.
All right then. I climbed into the front bench. Henri though leaned over and reached for the seat belt, clicking it into place for me, his warm fingers brushing the sliver of skin exposed between the blanket on my shoulders and the one around my waist.
It hit me for the second time at that moment.
I’d been this freaking close to never seeing his face again.
And I almost told him that, but instead, I whispered, “You could’ve just let me borrow your shirt, you know.”
His nostrils flared, his body jerking unexpectedly, and the hand that had lingered on my hip came up, and he tapped me under the chin. “Brat,” he whispered back, his jaw clenched so hard while he did it.
I gave him a tight smile as another shiver made me shake.
He frowned. Henri pulled back and started issuing orders to the kids, checking them in the back seat, before circling around to pick up my bundle of clothes and finally ending up in the front of the UTV to get behind the wheel. Duncan jumped between my feet and braced himself there as Henri turned on the off-road vehicle and got it going.
No one said a word the entire ride back to the clubhouse. No one even breathed loud, and if they did, I couldn’t hear them over how bad my teeth were chattering. I wanted to tell Henri he should call Phoebe and let her know the kids were fine, but my jaw felt too tight. My tongue lazy.
I’d really gotten the shit scared out of me.
I had been scared when those people had tried to hurt me to get to Duncan, but I’d known in my gut that I’d be fine. I had been able to control not just my destiny but theirs too. There was safety in that.
The river though? There was no amount of my magic that could have saved me or them from it. I’d known exactly what I was risking.