Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Pippa tugged me toward a hallway. “Come on. Let me show you where you’ll be staying. We’ve got a nice little suite prepared.”
We went to the top floor where the lift opened to a wide hallway. As we rounded a corner, I nearly collided with a mountain of a man. He stood well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders that seemed to fill the hallway. Salt-and-pepper hair was pulled back in a short ponytail -- it would brush his shoulders if let free. Intricate tattoos disappeared beneath the T-shirt he wore under his leather cut. His eyes, a startling shade of steel blue, locked onto mine for a heart-stopping moment as he grabbed my upper arms to steady me. I felt like someone had sucked all the air out of the room. He was brutally handsome. Heavily muscled. And utterly delicious. I wanted to eat him up. Or have him eat me up.
No! Bad Ellie!
“What the fuck is that infernal noise?”
Needle scratch back to reality. Yeah. He might be the ultimate eye candy, but apparently he was also a giant dick.
“That would be my cats.” I looked up at him sweetly. “All three of which I love with the fiery passion of a thousand suns, and I will not tolerate anyone saying bad things about them.”
“Cats.”
“Yep.” I kept the fake smile on my face, waiting to see what he’d say next.
“What kind?”
I shrugged. “The noisy kind?”
He looked like he was about to say something when all three cats in question escaped the room as Pippa opened the door. They didn’t run off. Rather, they circled my legs, meowing as they wove figure eights around my ankles. Lucifer paused to look up at the big man and hissed.
“Fuck me…” The man’s jaw tightened. He took a deliberate step away from my cats, scrubbing a hand over his mouth. “You’ve got to be fuckin’ kidding me.”
“This is Chains,” Pippa said, sounding amused. “Don’t mind him. He’s just superstitious.”
“Three black cats crossing your path is like a whole fuckin’ bunch of bad luck.” Chains muttered.
I couldn’t help it. I giggled. “That’s not how it works. Black cats are good luck in many cultures. They’re protectors.”
“This will be your suite, Ellie.” Carrie moved up beside me and grinned up at Chains. “Hey there, big guy.” She gave him a little finger wave.
He frowned. “Not cool, Carrie.”
Carrie shrugged. “It’s not my fault you’re creeped out by the creepy.”
“She stayin’ here?” He looked at the open door, then back down the hall, then back.
“Well, yeah.” Carrie frowned. “It’s the biggest in this group of buildings with the families, and I thought the cats would like the room.”
He huffed. “Fine. I’ll move across the hall.” He narrowed his gaze on the cats at my feet. All three now sat staring up at him with equally narrowed gazes. “Creepy little fuckers.” Lucifer hissed and arched his back. Chains actually paled and took several steps back before stopping and straightening like he just realized I’d caught him backing off from a house cat.
He pointed at Lucifer, like the cat would be intimidated, before turning and stalking back down the hall.
“Wait!” I called out to him before I could stop myself. When he turned to give me an exasperated look, I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling him to go fuck himself. “Don’t give me that look,” I said, pointing at him much like he had Lucifer. “You don’t like us being here, stay away. Why would you want to move across the hall if you don’t like my cats?”
He glanced at the cats again and the sides of his jaws bunched as if he were angry. “I can keep an eye on the demon spawn from there.”
“They’re really sweet.” I smiled up at Chains. Lucifer hissed. “Except Lucifer. There’s a reason Lucifer is his name.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Like I said. If you don’t like them, stay away.”
“Nope. They need watchin’. I can see it in their eyes.” He seemed to be trying to stare down Lucifer. Not only did he not intimidate Lucifer one bit, I was pretty sure the cat’s unblinking gaze as he stared up at Chains unnerved the big biker.
“They are getting watched. I’m watching them.”
“Uh-huh. You need watchin’, too.” Chains met my gaze and held it. And, oh, my God, the man had some seriously beautiful eyes. And the crinkles at the edges said he wasn’t always cranky. I could imagine those steel-blue eyes sparkling with laughter. Or hardening in anger. Right now, I thought they were… shadowed? Confused maybe. Like he had no idea how he got here and wasn’t altogether sure he wanted to know. “I’ll do that better if I’m closer.” Without another word, Chains turned and stomped back down the hall.
“Okay.” Carrie looked from me to Chains’ retreating form. “Things just got interesting.”