Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
There was something wrong with her. She shouldn’t want this man like she did.
He’s keeping you here against your will.
Although did you come straight out and ask to leave?
Do you want to leave?
Of course I do. Why would I want to stay here?
With two gorgeous, sexy, handsome, controlling, bossy, at times terrifying men?
“What would you say if I said I wanted to leave? Right now?” she asked.
He set her down on the countertop. “I should let you go. I am not my father. But I don’t like that you were so unprotected. I need to have a chat with Zander.”
A hint of disappointment sparked.
What had she been expecting him to say? That he wanted her to stay?
Urgh. You’re acting like an idiot.
She had to have Stockholm Syndrome.
“I’ll have to make sure that Zander doesn’t try to retaliate.”
Yeah, that sounded like something Zander would do.
She couldn’t believe she was in this situation again. Even though he wasn’t Fergus and neither of them had hurt her . . . it still felt like the walls were closing in.
This room was nicer than the last one.
But it was still a prison.
Her breathing started coming in short pants and the world around her began to spin.
“Angie? What’s wrong? Can’t you breathe? Fuck. Hold on, baby. Just hold on.”
“I’ve got the IV set up. What’s wrong?” North asked.
“Baby, listen to me. I need you to breathe.”
“Oh, she’s having a panic attack,” North said.
When had he come in? Also, her lungs were really starting to burn.
She needed to breathe.
“I know that. Angie, come on, breathe. You’re going to pass out.”
“Angie,” North said sharply. “Listen to me. I need you to do exactly as I say. Now, look at me.”
She raised her gaze to his, staring at him through blurry eyes.
“Put your hands up in the air. That’s it. Now make a circle with one finger. That’s it. Then the other.”
As she followed North’s directions, her heart rate started to grow slower and she could take a few shallow breaths.
“Now, breathe in with your belly.” He placed his hand over her stomach.
If she hadn’t still been trembling and feeling ill and breathless, she might have liked that more.
Why was she always in a terrible state around this man? Vomiting? Panicking? Launching herself at him in a rage?
Well, he’d set himself up for all of it, hadn’t he?
“Breathe in through your belly. Come on, push against my hand. You can do better than that. In, one, two, three, four. Now, out slowly for six.”
“Good girl,” Jared told her, rubbing her back.
Oh God.
That was something she definitely liked. It had been rare for her to ever hear praise growing up. And now she didn’t trust it when people told her that she was doing a great job or that she was smart or really, for anything.
But she seemed to lap it up from Jared.
“Not yet, she’s not,” North said, shattering the soft glow she had going.
Lord, he was a dick.
“Not until she gives me three more belly breaths. Then she gets the praise.”
She felt her lower lip drop out in a pout.
“And put that away. You know it doesn’t work on me,” North ordered.
No, because he had no heart.
She turned the pout on Jared who also shook his head. “It’s cute. But it’s not going to work on me either.”
North guided her through some more belly breaths and to her shock, she did feel her nervous system start to calm.
The shaking stopped. And her heart rate slowed. Her body moved out of fight or flight mode.
“When you concentrate on breathing through your belly there’s no room for thinking about anything else,” North told her. “It calms you down if you're overloaded. And it can also make you sleepy.”
Right.
She’d agree with that assessment.
As though he’d just realized that he was touching her, North snatched his hand back and stood. “There, you should be okay now.”
“Um, thank you,” she told him.
He just nodded and left the bathroom.
Wasn’t he going to tell her that she did a good job?
Jared cupped her chin in his hand and turned her head toward him. “Being here made you panic.”
“Can you blame me?” she asked, breathlessly.
And her breathlessness had nothing to do with her panic attack and everything to do with his closeness.
His touch.
Holy. Moly.
She swallowed heavily.
“No. I don’t.” He looked away and she had to fight the urge to touch him.
Or maybe she wanted to beg him to touch her. She wasn’t sure.
“Come on, let’s run you a bath. Although you really need to wash your hair. I’ll do that for you.” Jared turned away to run the bath.
“I can fill the bath. And wash my own hair.”
He didn’t really think that she was going to let him bathe her, right?
Surely not.
However, he didn’t answer. Instead, he searched in the cupboards, then poured some bubblebath into the water.