Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
I moved farther into the water until it was up to my waist before stopping a few feet away from him.
“How old were you when you got your first kiss?” I asked, deciding to start off light.
“Nine,” he replied.
I narrowed my eyes. “Not a peck on the playground.”
The corner of his lips quirked. “She was two years older than me, but I lied about my age. It was all tongue.”
“Seriously? Nine?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yep.”
“First girlfriend?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t do those.”
“You don’t do girlfriends?”
“I do not.”
“Ever?” I asked, finding it hard to believe he’d never had one single committed relationship.
“Never. Not for me.”
Oh. That information deflated me, which was silly. But it did. Okay, time to press on.
“Your virginity?” My face felt warm after asking it. Why had I done that?
“Twelve,” he replied, amusement glistening in his eyes.
“You’re lying.”
He shook his head. “She was sixteen. Again, I lied about my age. I was tall.”
My jaw dropped. “That’s … that’s terrible.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it was. I exploded the second the head of my condom-covered dick touched her cunt. Luckily, at that age, you get hard again almost instantly, and I was able to get it in after. Few moments of humiliation.”
A giggle burst out of me, and I covered my mouth.
“Go ahead. Laugh. I also emptied my load again once I was inside her before I even got a good pump in.”
My shoulders shook as I continued to laugh.
“Best three seconds of my young life,” he said with a shrug.
“Ohmigod,” I breathed and composed myself. “Where were you at that you could … could have sex with someone at that age?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Come on, Pickles. You gotta know my life wasn’t normal, growing up. I didn’t have a typical childhood.”
The Mafia. Right.
I hesitated, then decided to ask something that I’d thought about more than once.
“Have you …” I paused, not sure I wanted to end the mood with this one.
“Have I what?” he asked when I didn’t continue.
“Um, have, uh …” I should ask something else. But I was flustered now.
“Killed someone?”
I stilled. How had he known? I nodded.
“Yes.”
Okay, I’d guessed that. Maybe. No, I didn’t think I’d actually thought Forge had killed anyone. Oz possibly. But then I’d told myself it was ridiculous.
“Oh,” I replied. “I … more than once?” Why didn’t I let this go?
“Yes.”
Oh God. This was getting worse.
“On purpose?”
“Yes.”
I blew out a breath. I should stop now. Wrapping my arms around my waist, I suddenly got a chill, but it wasn’t from the water. It was deeper than that.
“There is a dark side to this world,” he told me. “But I’ve never killed an innocent man.”
So, he just killed bad men? Like that show I’d watched with Calvin … I forgot the name of it. Was he mentally disturbed, like that guy had been? I didn’t feel in danger with him. It was the opposite.
“Why?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Different reasons. But they all deserved it. The world is better off without them in it.”
He wasn’t God. He didn’t get to just decide who lived and died. I took a step back without thinking.
He watched me, then licked his lips. “Pickles …”
The way he said the nickname he called me sent a shiver over me, but it wasn’t a bad one. It should be, considering what he’d just admitted. But it wasn’t. I was a very stupid girl.
“You wanted the truth. I swore I’d give it to you. I don’t lie,” he told me, then took a step in my direction, causing the water to move around him. “I’d kill the bastards who killed your parents if I could find them.”
I sucked in a breath and held it.
“I’d make them suffer for the shadows and sadness I see in your eyes when you think no one is looking.” He stopped inches from me. I hadn’t moved. “I was raised not to let the law handle it. We handle it. It’s how it’s always been done. Their ways are often broken and not sufficient. Ours are.”
Breathe. I had to breathe. I did so slowly as my heart raced in my chest from his nearness.
“You’re here because Calvin knew our method of protecting you was the only one that would be successful.”
His gaze dropped to my lips, and I was once again not inhaling oxygen.
“The only thing that you’re in danger of here is me touching you.” His tone was husky.
I jerked when the palm of his hand touched my bare side, but I didn’t move away from it. I stared at his face as his eyes traveled down my body, stopping at my chest.
“You’re grieving,” he said in a thick voice that sounded pained. “Your life has been ripped apart. I’m many things, but I won’t take advantage of that.” His eyes snapped back up to meet mine. “But I think about it.” He swallowed hard. “I think about things I want to do to you, how much I want to show you just how good my cock feels, stretching you as I fill you.”