Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
I didn’t even let her finish the sentence. I’d been dying to get my mouth on her, I didn’t even care where, and I’d never in a million years deny her a kiss. The moment our mouths met, a surge of fire ran from the base of my spine, over my shoulders, and down my arms, and for the first time, it didn’t hurt.
Lucy’s arms wrapped around my neck as our tongues tangled, and my chest burned as I pulled her close. Gods, she was everything. I’d never wanted anything as much as I wanted her. Visions of her naked on the bed, her brunette waves just barely covering her nipples and her legs spread wide in welcome made my hands shake as I slid them down to grip her ass.
Fuck.
She tore her mouth from mine and took a step back as she dropped her arms.
“Okay, so you can kiss,” she gasped. “I’ll give you that.”
“Where are you going?” I asked, following her.
“First, a shower.” She held up one hand, ticking things off on her fingers. “Then to check on Charlie. Then bed.”
I nodded. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth, I’d beg her to kiss me again. As she moved around the room, I walked carefully over to the side of the bed and took a seat.
I’d been in control my entire life. When you grew up as the oldest brother of five, you learned how to lead from an early age. I was in charge. I made most of the decisions. I kept the rest of them from getting into too much trouble or into situations where they could be hurt.
Of course, as we’d become adults, things had shifted. We’d stopped spending every second of the day together and started our own lives. My little brothers had started making their own decisions and stopped looking to me for advice. But still, that part of my personality had lingered.
Who would’ve guessed that a woman would be my downfall. I wasn’t in charge of this situation. I had no control. Lucy held all the cards. She already knew that I was all in.
Flexing my hands, I stared at them as she carried her bag into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.
After two days in the car with Lucy and Charlie, it was easy to see that while she may have been younger, she’d also had the same role in their family. If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve guessed that Charlie was the youngest and Lucy was the oldest. She spoke for both of them, made decisions unilaterally, and Charlie didn’t seem to mind it in the slightest. It didn’t seem like it was a new thing, either. Their roles hadn’t reversed when Charlie lost Zeke. They’d always been that way.
Lucy was protective and opinionated and stubborn and tightly wound.
I was fucking dying for the day when she’d give up that control to me.
Rising from the bed, I walked over to the window and pulled the curtains aside just far enough that I could scan the parking lot. No new cars had pulled in since we’d arrived. How had we made it so far without being followed? Had they decided that our family wasn’t worth going after? It would make sense. They’d already failed to kidnap Beau and Reese, losing four of their soldiers in the process.
Letting the curtain fall back into place, I stretched my arms above my head. I needed to stay focused. Lucy and I had nothing but time ahead of us. Once we were back on my family’s property, we could spend time figuring each other out. Hopefully, naked.
Looking around the room, I spied a phone on the table. I needed to get in touch with my brothers soon. It didn’t feel right being completely cut off from them, and they were probably climbing the walls waiting for me to make contact. I would’ve been if the roles were reversed. Losing Zeke had been a wake-up call for all of us.
We’d gotten complacent and assumed that all of us would inevitably be okay because we always had been. There had been no way to see it coming, and the blow had been so much worse because of it.
“All done,” Lucy announced as she came out of the bathroom, running her fingers through her damp hair. Reaching up, she combed out the fringe across her forehead and shook her head a little to settle it into place.
“Feel better?” I asked, my voice raspy as I glanced down her body. The night before, she’d slept in her clothes, and I hadn’t had to contend with the skimpy tank top and shorts that she wore as pajamas. My mouth was fucking watering at the sight of her peaked nipples.
“It’s amazing what a cold shower can do,” she said wryly. “You should try it.”