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)
“I believe you, Keys. I absolutely do. I also think it is very unlikely that those women have a clue what you’re doing most of the time.”
“Why would it be necessary for you to know? Why would you even want to? You’ll come home with me. I own a house but often stay at the VP’s home because I watch over him. You’ll live in the house and enjoy the coast. You said you hiked the Lost Coast. We have the redwoods to backpack in. We have the ocean, and most of the houses we own back up to forest. It’s beautiful there. You don’t have to join the club. I just want to know you’re safe.”
She burst out laughing. He had a thing for perfect pitch, and the notes she hit when she laughed were about as perfect as they could get. He sat back and enjoyed it.
When she sobered, she shook her head. “Either you forget how well I know you, or you’re deluding yourself. There is no way you get me to your territory, and you don’t turn into a crazy alpha, beat your chest, and snarl at every opposition I give you, Wolfman. But it’s nice that you tried to give me the lamb and thought I’d fall for it.”
She was going back with him whether she wanted to or not, but he was a smart enough man not to say so. It would be far better to talk her into going with him of her own free will.
“I get it, Lyric.” He nearly snarled it, pouring contempt into his voice. He didn’t look at her, but he stopped massaging her foot. “You don’t like clubs. You think I haven’t run into that prejudice before? You always want honesty, well, try it yourself.”
She pulled her foot right off his lap. “What are you talking about? How did you get I don’t like clubs from what I just said?”
“Do you?”
“No. But the only one I’ve been around is the Headed for Hell club, and the newer members are assholes. They walk around like they own every establishment in town. Those members are entitled, even when they’re trying to keep a low profile. So no, I don’t like them, but I wasn’t comparing your club to theirs. I just am not good around a lot of people I don’t know.”
“These people are my family.”
Lyric took a deep breath. “Exactly, Keys. You want me to go home with you to your family. I don’t know what family is. I can’t cope with that. I’m not exactly normal, or did you miss that? I stay to myself for a reason.”
“Because you’re on the run.” He softened his voice but kept the mask. The one she hated. The one she knew wasn’t real.
“Because I’m not normal,” she corrected.
“What the fuck is normal?” Now they were getting somewhere. She was letting him into something she guarded carefully.
Her gaze shifted from his. “Why are you doing this? What does it matter where I go when you take off? We already talked about this.”
He was hurting her. His heart clenched. His gut followed suit. There was raw pain in her voice. She couldn’t fake that. That was the last thing he meant to do. He’d stumbled onto something big. Something important. He realized she had been holding back more than the fact that she was on the run.
Lyric reached for her shoes and he caught her wrist, preventing her from getting them. He didn’t release her arm, even when she tried to jerk away from him. He was twice her size and far stronger. For a moment she struggled, and then she let him retain possession, but she kept her face averted.
“Babe, stop. Just take a breath. You can’t take off on me. Just breathe. Let’s start this over. I need to know what you meant when you said you aren’t normal. It’s important. You’re safe with me. You know that. I’m your safe place. Always. We might get pissed at each other, but you’re always safe.”
She retreated into her silence, sliding her mask into place every bit as easily as he had done. They were such a pair. That right there showed him they were meant to be together for whatever purpose.
“Don’t do that to me, Wildfire.” He used the voice, the one he knew got under her skin. The one that usually got him what he wanted.
It didn’t work. She just kept looking away from him, a frozen mouse with a predator looming over her. Not his Wildfire. Something else. Someone else.
“Eyes to me.” He dropped the nice, allowing Keys the killer out. The one everyone but his woman feared. She didn’t fear him, and she always obeyed reluctantly, but she always followed his commands. She did this time, her gaze shifting to his.