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)
“If I let you dye my hair, my brothers would never let me hear the end of it. I’d get so much crap I’d have to move a state away.”
“Don’t be a baby.”
That was more like Lyric, but her hands didn’t move from her face. She rocked her body in a self-soothing motion.
“How did you fall?”
“Didn’t see a broken branch. Already a little dizzy. It isn’t a big deal.”
“Next time I’m tying you up. When I say stay put, you need to do that. I’m not just getting gray hair, you’re shaving years off my life.” He began picking the debris from her hair.
She gave him her little laugh. “Stop. I told you my head hurts. If I move, it gets worse. Every time you make me laugh, I can’t keep my head still.”
“Sounds like a you problem to me,” he said, once more brushing at the hair falling around her face. “Babe, we have to have a serious conversation.”
“Can we have it with me not moving? I promise I’ll listen to every word.”
She had the ability to make him want to smile. It wasn’t even that she was being sassy. He liked that in her. It was that she wasn’t afraid of him. She said whatever she thought and wasn’t concerned with the consequences. There were times she should be, but she got out of trouble because she was cute.
He groaned and scrubbed his hand down his face. Since when did he ever refer to a woman as cute?
“Bring on the lecture, Keys. I’m all ears.” She kept her hands over her eyes, but he knew she wanted to cover her ears.
“This is serious, babe.”
Her half smile faded. “I know. I really will listen.”
“With an open mind. Hear what I’m saying to you.”
“Aye-aye, Captain. I said I would.”
That was the best he was going to get. “This situation with your head is serious. You clearly have a concussion, but it could be worse. You could have a brain bleed. That isn’t something we can deal with. The concussion, you lie still, get as much rest as possible, and we’ll wait for the cavalry to arrive. My club has a doc, a surgeon, and he kicks ass. If we can keep you alive long enough for him to get here, no matter what is going on, he can fix it.”
“I didn’t leave the cave to defy you, Keys. In fact, I replayed your orders several times, and it wasn’t clear to me, if I had to relieve myself, what you wanted me to do. I thought going outside was better than making a mess in here.”
“I know, Wildfire.” He raked his fingers through his hair in agitation. He’d replayed his orders as well. He hadn’t been clear with his directions. “I’m not blaming you for what happened, I’m just saying it can’t happen again.”
For the first time, her hands came off her face, and she opened her eyes. “Don’t you dare feel guilty, Keys. You’re doing all the work while I’m lying around making things difficult for you. No one, not even your doctor, could have taken better care of me. Please don’t put blame for any of this on yourself. Every single decision made was my choice. I always make certain I make my own choices. I chose to leave the safety of my salon to try to get those men off of you. I had worked out a plan in my mind to throw you the scissors if you couldn’t make it across to that last man. I knew he had the gun, and you would have taken the chance. It was my choice to do what I did. And I had every right to make that choice, same as you do.”
She sounded like a fierce fighter. Coming out of her mouth when she looked like a tiny kicked bunny rabbit made her declaration all the more heartbreaking.
“Gonna ask you a question, Wildfire. I want an honest answer. Could you shoot a man, kill him, if you had to?”
She didn’t answer right away. She ducked her head and shaded her eyes with one palm. “Under the right circumstances.”
“What would those circumstances be?” He waited, his accelerated heartbeat telling him he already knew what she was going to say. Bog. Bog. This wasn’t right. How had it happened? He’d never wanted this. He’d been so careful. So certain of his path. Not this. Never this.
“If your life was in danger, I could pull the trigger.”
She hadn’t even hesitated, and she stated her answer with conviction. He believed her. She would do that for him. Kill another human being when her heart was nothing but compassion. When she knew it would haunt her for the rest of her life.
“Would you pull the trigger if your life was in danger?”
There was a small silence while she turned that question over and over in her mind. He knew she wanted to be honest with him, and she was playing out the scenario in her head. “I think I would hesitate, but I don’t know.”