Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
The words were still playing through her mind hours later.
What had she done?
What was necessary. She’d laid down boundaries.
He’d responded in a way that she hadn’t quite expected. But it showed that he understood her feelings.
I never want you to be scared of me. To see me as anything like your mother.
What had she done?
Was this really the outcome that she wanted? For him to think that she looked at him and saw her mother? That she thought he was anything like her mother?
Because she didn’t.
She knew that everything he was doing was to protect her.
And maybe she didn’t mind that he liked to take charge.
Because he only wants what is best for you.
She needed to tell him that. To explain that she wasn’t scared of him. Or of any sort of punishment.
Quite the opposite, to be honest.
How did she say that, though? And if she did . . . what would it lead to?
Was she ready for anything more?
A groan escaped her.
Lord. She really wanted more, didn’t she? She wanted to experience that control in the bedroom. She wanted his bossy ass.
Did he still want her?
Had she completely messed this up? But how was she meant to know what was best?
Right now, she could really use some advice from an outside party. But she didn’t have anyone to ask.
She wished she had a better relationship with Clem. Lily missed her. They’d had a couple of very brief conversations that felt a bit awkward. Lily hadn’t wanted to tell her what was going on and ruin everything for her. Clem sounded so happy and carefree. No, she wasn’t ruining that. Plus she was now engaged. Clem needed to concentrate on the future and not look back.
Lily was now sitting on the window seat in the living room, staring out at the forest beyond. What should she do?
Backtrack?
Tell him that she now regretted what she’d said and hadn’t meant it.
Urgh, but he’d think she was an idiot.
Her uncertainty was eating a hole in her stomach and making her feel nauseous.
“Lily? Lily, hey, is everything all right?” He suddenly appeared in front of her, making her startle.
“What? What’s wrong?” she asked.
“That’s what I was asking you, baby,” he murmured, watching her closely.
“You were?”
“Yes. I’ve been standing behind you for the last thirty seconds, calling your name.”
She felt a blush fill her cheeks. “Oh. Sorry.”
“I’m worried about you.”
Lily blinked at him. “Worried about me?” That wasn’t what she’d expected him to say. She’d half-expected him to say that this was all over.
Before it had even begun.
“You seem lost, baby. You’re still not eating enough. Or sleeping well.”
“I slept well last night.” Because he’d been in bed with her.
Waking up this morning in his arms had been magical. She’d woken up feeling warm and rested.
Not cold and scared.
Imagine waking up that way every day.
To that kiss every day.
Lord, she could still feel that kiss. The way her lips tingled. How her entire body reacted.
“I really want you to think hard about talking to someone. We’ll start looking into it. Okay?”
She nodded, even though she wanted to tell him that her current issue wasn’t really anything to do with what had happened to her at the hands of her mother and Dr. Wallace, and more to do with her regret over their earlier conversation.
And the fact that she was too much of a coward to just take what he was offering.
“All right,” she replied.
“I have to go and meet Paddy. Are you sure you’re all right? I can have one of my guys come and sit with you.”
He was offering to get her a babysitter. No way. She didn’t think so.
“I’ll be fine,” she told him. “I’d rather be on my own.”
“I don’t know, baby. I feel like you’ve been on your own for far too long.”
What did he mean? She was never on her own. She’d lived with her mother her entire life. There’d always been somebody at the house, whether that was James or Selena or her mother.
“I’m never alone,” she said.
“Aren’t you?” He reached out a hand.
She took hold, surprised when he pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her. He held her tight, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“I just want to take care of you, Lily. But sometimes I might take things too far and scare you. Which is the last thing I want to do.”
Lily shook her head. “No, no. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of that. I didn’t really mean it. I don’t know what I mean half the time anymore, or what I want. Sometimes I don’t even know I want something, or I think I shouldn’t want it. This is all just new.”
He drew back slightly, and then grasped hold of her chin, tilting her head back so she had to stare up at him. He really was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen in her life with his dark hair and intense hazel-colored eyes.