Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
13
COREY
“No!” I sat up, my chest was tight. I couldn’t breathe. What happened? Someone was chasing me. I was….
I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I was in my room. No one else was there.
I’d been dreaming.
It had felt so real, though. Sweat dripped down my face, and it felt like the room was a million degrees, but it was probably as cold as ever. I should take a warm shower, then maybe I could sleep.
I threw back the covers and stood, but as soon as I reached the doorway of the bathroom, I knew I was far too on edge, listening to every sound around me. No way could I stand under the water, naked and vulnerable, unable to hear if someone was after me.
Dom will take care of you.
He was good, but he couldn’t perform miracles. Muffin, Six, and another man were now guarding the house, but I still wasn’t fully reassured. Whoever was after me seemed capable of getting around even the best defenses.
I shivered, cold now, as sweat evaporated from my skin. I really didn’t want to be alone. I grabbed a T-shirt and sweatpants, dressed quickly, then turned on the flashlight on my phone.
I didn’t really think as I made my way to Dom’s room. When I reached his door, I tried to tell myself to turn around. He valued his privacy, and this was way too much of an invasion, but I needed someone to talk to, someone to talk me off the ledge, or I was going to be cowering in bed, waiting for someone to kill me for the rest of the night.
I knocked before I could talk myself out of it.
Footsteps approached the door immediately. Then it flew open to reveal Dom pointing a gun at my chest.
I threw my hands up. “Jesus, don’t shoot me!”
Dom blew out a breath and lowered his gun. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Being an idiot.”
He looked me up and down. “What’s wrong?”
“I had a bad dream.” Shit, I sounded like a kid.
He motioned me in and shut the door. I looked around, unsure what to do. I wasn’t going to sit on the bed, but the only chairs were in a window alcove. All I could think of was the brick coming through the window. What if next time it was a bullet? So I stood there in the middle of the room.
“I dreamed I… Oh, fuck.” Tears stung my eyes. I was falling apart.
“You’ve been through a lot.” Dom’s voice was soft, warmer than I’d ever heard it.
I nodded. “I thought I was fine after what happened—the brick, the window, the whole fucking thing, but I’m not. I don’t want to die. I don’t want you to die. I wish I’d never walked into that office.”
Suddenly, his arms were around me. He held me tightly against him, and I stopped fighting my tears. I forgot everything I knew about him, buried my face in his neck, and let go. I was safe and warm, and maybe things would be okay after all.
I don’t know how long he held me like that, but I finally came back to myself and realized I had literally been crying on an assassin’s shoulder. What the fuck was wrong with me?
“I’m so sorry,” I said as I pulled away from him.
“No need to apologize. You’re scared.”
I was, but I didn’t want to be. “It’s fucking embarrassing. I bet you’re never scared.”
He raised his brows. “You really believe that?”
“Well, yeah.”
He shook his head. “I’m scared all the fucking time.”
My jaw literally dropped. No way in hell had he just admitted that. “What?”
“Get in bed.” He pointed to the large bed with the covers folded down on one side.
My eyes went wide. “What?”
“Get in bed.”
I couldn’t believe he was serious. I’d just gotten tears and snot on his robe, and he wanted me in his bed? “I…um…I don’t….”
“Get under the covers. You’re shivering.”
“You keep the house really cold.”
“You could have asked me to turn up the heat.”
I hadn’t thought that was an option.
He pointed to the bed again. “Now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Oh, shit. I realized how that sounded. Or maybe he wouldn’t be thinking like that. I glanced at his face. Nope. He was thinking it.
He smiled at my distress. “Is that how you want this to go?”
“Oh my god. Dominic, I….”
“For now, all I’m going to do is get you warmed up.”
“You don’t…? I thought you were….”
“Me too. I don’t know what the fuck is going on with me, but I know that I can’t send you back to your room when you’re frightened.”
Heart pounding, I walked to the bed and slid under the covers. Dom joined me, and if I hadn’t been lying down, I might have fainted.
“Turn over,” he ordered. I rolled so I was facing away from him, and he spooned his body around mine.