Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 133975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 670(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 670(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
It took longer than he’d hoped. He massaged her buttocks, the sweet rounded cheeks that formed a heart of pure temptation. She walked like a ballerina, and whenever he was behind her, he found his gaze fixed on that extremely feminine invitation. When his hands found the backs of her thighs, right where her bottom ended, she moved. His heart nearly stopped and then began racing.
“It’s becoming a habit.”
Her voice was slightly slurred, very thin, almost too low for him to hear. He caught that trace of amusement, and his world righted itself.
“What’s becoming a habit?” He continued the massage, but his fingers went deeper.
“Waking up surrounded by you after dreaming about you.”
That was an unguarded answer if he’d ever heard one. She was still drifting. “Good or bad habit?” He needed to know she was feeling something for him, even if she was only dreaming good things about him, so he pushed it.
“How could you be anything but good, Keys?”
He squeezed his eyes closed tight. How many men had he killed? Tortured? It didn’t matter if there were good reasons or if it was his life or theirs, he’d done things she couldn’t conceive of. That monster had slipped loose in front of her on more than one occasion, and she still dreamt of him as good. Named him that. Looked at him as if he mattered.
He managed to brush a kiss onto the top of her head. “I never know with you.”
“Yes, you do. I always give in to you, and that’s so pathetic.”
Now there was real laughter in her voice. His woman was waking up.
“You never concede.” That was a damned lie, but he liked sparring with her, particularly now, when he’d been so afraid for her. Her brain was still intact, and going a few rounds with him meant she would be fine.
He felt her breath against his skin. Over his heart. His gut clenched. That small burst of heat pierced right through skin and muscle. Penetrated deep just like an arrow. As if that heat were a virus, it spread through him fast, taking him over. He could feel it moving through him, claiming every inch of him, branding him with her.
“Only you would have the audacity to say that when you know it isn’t true. You give me that supposed-to-be-scary look, so stern, and you know I think it’s cute. And hot. There isn’t a man on this earth that is hot the way you are.”
“I’m hot?” he encouraged. He was finding her very interesting when she wasn’t quite up to knowing what she was revealing.
“Gorgeous hot in that badass, dangerous way. Women fall like dominos for that look, and you know it. But they don’t see the cute behind the scary. That’s what gets you all the concessions from me. It gets you off the hook for being an arrogant badass who goes around scaring the crap out of everyone.”
“I wish I scared the crap out of you.” That much was certainly true. If he scared her, she might listen to him when it was necessary, like when people were trying to kill them.
She gave him that little ridiculous giggle, the one that had sunshine attached to it. “It’s difficult to be a scary, dangerous badass, and then look cute and expect me not to notice. I’ve got eyes, Keys.”
“You might have eyes, but you don’t have common sense or self-preservation.”
“I take great exception to your faulty conclusions,” she stated, this time giving him her snippy, haughty note. The one that should have gotten under his skin but only made him want to smile and tease her to get more of it.
“You’re stuck with me, a head wound and a bullet wound in your arm and thigh because of the not-so-brilliant decision you made that was not logical and certainly had nothing to do with self-preservation. In fact, just the opposite.”
She heaved a sigh, an exaggerated one. “I see you’re working yourself up to one of your lectures. Let me just get comfortable and go back to sleep before you proceed.”
The temptation to smack her bare bottom and then roll her under him was so strong he nearly did it. Instead, he circled her upper thighs, gripping them with a warning squeeze. He had big hands and she was seriously small, much more so without the bulky clothing than he’d first thought.
“You told me you were a serious hiker. Not the kind of hike that requires a bottle of water and an hour out of your day.”
“Well, yeah.” She yawned and one arm slid up his chest, her hand framing his jaw. “I love backpacking, if that’s what you’re referring to.”
“What trails did you hike and how long did it take you?”
She was walking into his trap and not seeing it. He liked that. She was difficult to best in any argument, but she wasn’t up to her usual sharp mode. And she had a passion for backpacking. He knew because anytime the subject came up, she poured joy into the telling.