Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Several Black Crowns were already at the house when we pulled in. One of them gave Gavin a quick update. The yard had been searched. Brothers were checking the road, driveway, windows, and rear approach. Cases of equipment sat by the porch.
It was a little intimidating until Gavin walked me around the property. He asked me questions about the doors and windows, then explained the upgrades being made to make sure I was okay with everything.
I watched one of the guys unpack another camera. “Are they putting those inside too?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Gavin looked at me like the answer was obvious. “I’m inside.”
I couldn’t argue with the fact that having him in the house with me was infinitely more reassuring than being watched by a camera. “Good.”
“If there’s anything you don’t want touched, let me know.”
“The trim.” I glanced up at the casing around the window directly above us. “My grandmother chose it.”
He glanced at the proposed mount for the camera that was about to go up, then tipped his chin at a different stretch of siding. “Move it.”
While the brothers worked outside, we went inside. Another bag sat on the couch.
I looked from the new duffel to the small one he brought. “That one’s bigger.”
“Threat level changed.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I quirked a brow. “Apparently so did your wardrobe.”
“Preparedness saves lives.”
I pointed at the shirts near the open zipper. “Those are protecting me?”
He slung the bags over his shoulder and smirked. “You’ll appreciate them more when I’m not wearing one.”
My cheeks filled with heat over how right he was, but I didn’t mind because his real smile finally came all the way back.
He headed toward my bedroom.
I trailed him. “You know there’s still a couch.”
“I remember.”
“You slept there the first night.” As much as I wish he hadn’t.
He set the bags beside the dresser. “That was before I knew how well you fit against me.”
We both knew I had slept better wrapped up in him, so I stopped arguing as my cheeks got even hotter.
As he unpacked, his things mingled with mine. The attack hadn’t taken my home from me because Gavin made sure I was safe here.
He checked the bedroom window, then turned and caught me watching him. “What?”
“I’m deciding whether you moved in.”
His gaze swept the room before coming back to me. “Take your time.”
He closed the distance between us, slid a hand around my waist, and pulled me close. “I’ll be here while you figure it out.”
I didn’t find that alarming since he made me feel safe. So I soaked up the comfort of having his arms around me for a little bit before stepping back. “I’m going to take a shower.”
The invite sat right there on the tip of my tongue, but I chickened out.
He nodded and left to check the rest of the house, so I grabbed one of his shirts and a pair of sleep shorts and shut the bathroom door behind me.
12
GHOST
Isat on the edge of Tamsin’s bed with my forearms braced against my thighs and listened to the steady rush of water behind the closed bathroom door. My brothers covered every approach to the property. The cameras were active, and the reinforced locks had been tested multiple times. No one was reaching her tonight, and the men responsible for putting a device beneath her truck would be found. My confidence in that never wavered, but knowing she was safe did nothing to lessen the need riding beneath my skin.
The attempt on her life had sharpened the claim that had been taking root since she ordered me behind an exclusion line with those vivid blue eyes narrowed in irritation. I had wanted her before the first shell turned toward the crowd, but every threat against her had stripped away another layer between desire and something far more permanent. Tamsin had become necessary with a speed that might have bothered another man. I had spent too much of my life trusting instincts that kept people alive to start doubting the clearest one I had ever felt.
The water stopped, followed by the faint scrape of the shower curtain and quiet movement across the bathroom. I straightened when the latch clicked, and steam drifted into the bedroom before Tamsin stepped through wearing one of my black shirts with her sleep shorts. Damp curls spilled around her shoulders, while the hem of my shirt hung almost to her thighs and shifted around her bare legs as she walked. She had an entire closet of clothes within reach and had still chosen something that carried my scent, a fact that eased the cold anger beneath my ribs while creating a much harder problem behind my zipper.
My gaze traveled slowly up her legs, over the soft curve of her hips, and across the outline of her tits beneath the thin cotton before reaching her face. Pink already warmed the freckles scattered over her cheeks, and her lips parted when she recognized exactly where I had been looking. She stopped a few feet inside the room, her fingers briefly catching the bottom edge of the shirt as if she considered tugging it lower.