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)
The red blotches were slowly disappearing, but her skin was still hot to the touch.
“You’ll look after him?” she asked softly.
“Of course.”
“I’m going to go crazy waiting.”
Leaning down to kiss her neck, I wrapped my arms around her tightly. “You’ll be asleep.”
Her body stiffened. “What?”
“In order for me to go,” I explained, holding her still as she tried to rear backward. “Aunt Alice will give you something to sleep.”
We weren’t even sure it would work, but we were willing to try.
“I don’t understand,” Lucy said slowly.
“She thinks that if you’re asleep, I may be able to go with them as long as I’m back within a few hours.”
“The heat,” she replied.
I nodded. We needed every one of us for the plan to work the way we were hoping, but my ability to leave Lucy behind was in question. Without the bond being completed, we were tethered to each other. It would be as painful or more painful than what we’d just experienced. I hoped—we hoped—that I’d be able to manage it, but I wasn’t willing to subject Lucy to that kind of agony. If Alice gave her something to knock her out, she was confident that Lucy’s symptoms would be manageable, and in turn, so would mine. She hadn’t had enough time to test it, but she believed that a Vampire’s symptoms were a direct reflection of their mate’s. I wasn’t sure how it all worked, but I trusted Alice.
She was going to give the same thing to Reese. Her and Beau’s bond had been completed so recently that they didn’t want her symptoms to flare back up either. She’d gone through the ringer when Beau had flown to Montana to get us.
“Do you think it will work?” Lucy asked, her hands sliding up into my hair.
“If it doesn’t, I won’t go.”
“You have to.” Her grip tightened. “You have to go if Charlie’s going.”
“Okay,” I replied. There was no use in arguing, especially now that she’d finally accepted that Charlie was going through with it. Without asking, I knew that Lucy would rather be in pain than let Charlie put himself in danger without someone she trusted watching his back. And I was the only one she trusted.
Turning my head, I pressed my lips against her temple.
She trusted me. That was something. She wanted me. That was something too. We were getting somewhere.
She leaned back so that we were face-to-face. “Sorry I told your dad to fuck off.”
My lips twitched as I held back a smile.
“And that I threatened to burn your house down.”
“Forgiven,” I replied.
“That easy, huh?”
“That easy.”
“Do we need to get back downstairs?” she asked, resettling herself on my lap, like she couldn’t help herself. Her core nestled more snugly against me, and I nearly groaned. The erection I’d been walking around with for days throbbed.
“We can take a few more minutes.”
She nodded. “It got really bad,” she whispered, like she was telling me a secret. “The minute you walked out the door, it got really, really bad.”
“I know,” I whispered back, wrapping my hand around the side of her throat so I could run my thumb along her jaw.
“Where did you go?”
“Just outside. I wasn’t far.”
“It felt really far.”
“Would you really walk away?” I asked. The question felt like pulling the pin on a hand grenade, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
Lucy was silent for a long moment.
“I’m not sure I physically could,” she confessed.
That didn’t reassure me.
“Would you really want to?”
“No,” she breathed, dropping her head until our foreheads touched. “No, I don’t think so.”
Finally, some fucking progress.
“What’s your favorite memory?” I asked her, running my fingers through her hair. It was so silky that it slid easily through my fingers, even as the waves wrapped around them.
“My favorite memory?” she asked, frowning. “Why?”
“Because we don’t know enough about each other.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Um…” She looked up at the ceiling. “Maybe when Charlie got his first bike, and he was so excited because he climbed on it and just took off. He didn’t need my dad to teach him or anything. He just pushed off with his feet and figured out the pedals on the fly. It was so cool.”
“Yeah?”
“Or maybe the first time he trained with me. He was so proud of how hard he’d hit the bag that he turned to make sure I was looking, and the bag swung back and knocked him onto his face.” She chuckled. “Pride goeth before the fall—literally. What’s yours?”
It was very telling that Lucy’s favorite memories were of Charlie.
“The last time my brothers and I were here together,” I said after a moment. “We sat out back half the night talking around the fire. That’s a good memory.”
“I thought you’d say something cheesy, like the moment you saw me,” she joked, the tension at the sides of her eyes relaxing a little.