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)
“Yes.” He couldn’t help the clipped, abrupt way he spoke, trying to warn her off. That man had been thoroughly interrogated. He had quite a bit of information on why Lyric and Keys had been targeted, none of it good. “Why are we talking about him?”
“I don’t know, Keys. Maybe because you’ve suddenly decided I need to stay with you. Maybe this is about you being you after all.”
He frowned. The thing about Lyric that he always needed to keep uppermost in his mind was that she was quick. Her mind worked fast, running through possibilities and discarding answers that didn’t quite fit. She would go quiet and thoughtful when they were discussing an important subject, and then she would say the most thought-provoking things and he knew she saw right through him. That was the Lyric he could never lose sight of. That was the Lyric who intrigued and fascinated him.
He replayed her tone. Tone with Lyric was a dead giveaway when it came to what she was thinking. Her tone said volumes. She was tired. Scared. He got that. There was an underlying sadness he could hear clearly.
She didn’t stiffen up or try to get away. If anything, she relaxed into him, her head back, her eyes closed. Almost as if she had given up.
“What is me being me?”
“You’ve said it a hundred times, and I know you mean it. You don’t let anyone in, but you let me in. We don’t wear masks with each other, and there’s freedom in that. I did my best to protect that relationship because, for me, you’re my only. I accepted the fact that there wasn’t going to be another person, not just man but person, I could ever be as real with. I honestly believe you feel the same way. Or I did.”
Something inside him went very quiet. The revelation was there if he could just figure out what exactly she was thinking. “You don’t think I protected our relationship?”
“I think you believe you’re protecting me.”
She rubbed her temples as if she had a headache, and immediately his body had a visceral reaction. As far as he was concerned, she could never have a headache again. He’d nearly lost her, and it wasn’t ever going to happen again. She’d made the mistake of showing him he couldn’t exist without her. She was going to have to live with the consequences. That meant he wasn’t going to let her put herself in danger of any kind. She could walk around with a helmet on her head for the rest of her life.
“Um, Keys, you’re going to break all my ribs. What’s wrong?”
He was holding her too tight at just the thought of her getting hurt again. So what did it mean when she said she believed he protected her? She didn’t think that was the same as protecting their relationship.
“You are one fucked-up woman,” he said and slid out from behind her so he could stand. “Protecting you and our relationship is the same.”
He caught up a towel and began to dry himself off, narrowing his gaze at her. It should have intimidated her, but she was Lyric and seemed immune when he was on the verge of losing his temper.
“It isn’t, Keys, although I can tell you think it is.”
She drew up her knees, put her chin on top of them and then turned her head to one side to regard him soberly. Her eyes had gone a darker green. He could look into her eyes all day. She had a gorgeous face. Those high cheekbones and that straight little nose dusted with freckles. He was very, very partial to her freckles. Most of the swelling and bruising had faded away, leaving only a faint smudge of yellow here and there.
“All right, Wildfire, I’ll bite. Why isn’t it the same?”
“You’re going to tire of me, whether you want to admit it or not. I’m a boring person. I cut and color hair for a living. I have routines I have to follow. I fixate on things.”
“These are all things I’m very aware of about you, Lyric. I don’t think you’re boring. I prefer your company to anyone else I know, and that’s saying something, because I like being around my Torpedo Ink brothers and sisters. I especially like that you fixate on things because that means you’ll fixate on me. I want to be your entire focus because I’m greedy like that.”
He crouched down beside the tub and cupped the side of her face in his palm. “Seeing you nearly die after finally realizing you were the only one I would ever be able to be with made me see I wasn’t going to let you go. Knowing you gave me something that allowed me to be human, that brought me back to life, and then watching you almost die, is too fuckin’ much for me to handle. So, okay, I’ve gotten overprotective. You may have to put up with that for a century or two until I don’t wake up in the middle of the night unable to breathe, terrified I’m going to have to live without you.”