Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
The house was set up in an upside-down U, with the kitchen and living area on one side and the bedroom on the other. There were no doors between them, but it gave the illusion of privacy without sacrificing an inch of the view from the windows that stretched along the entire wall facing the Aegean Sea.
She padded into the kitchen and rustled around until she found the coffee. It took another few minutes to decipher the coffeemaker, but eventually Meg had it going. She stretched as the tantalizing scent drifted through the kitchen and smiled. Coffee makes everything better.
Meg turned to the windows and froze.
A man stood on the other side. He was tall—taller than both Galen and Theo—and dressed entirely in black from his shirt to his jeans to his boots. Brown hair with the kind of bronzed skin that spoke of either hours spent in the sun or really excellent genetics. A gnarled scar around his throat where it looked like someone tried to garrote him.
And he had a gun pointed directly at her chest.
She lifted her hands, but considering she was standing there naked as the day she was born, the gesture didn’t make sense. He pointed at the sliding glass door, and she hesitated. Was the glass bulletproof? It seemed like something Galen would have installed in a house he owned. He was paranoid like that.
But she couldn’t guarantee it.
If she let him in, he could kill them all.
If she didn’t let him in, he could shoot his way through the window and kill them all.
Her options sucked.
“Open the door, baby.”
She jumped. She couldn’t see Galen around the section of the wall separating the bedroom from the rest of the house, but apparently his spidey senses had tingled and he was awake. Thank god. She inched to the door, painfully aware of the gun trained at her chest. She flipped the lock and scrambled back.
The gunman wasted no time. He stepped into the house and shut the door behind him, never once breaking eye contact with her. To his credit, he didn’t ogle her nakedness, but considering he’d just forced his way into the house at gunpoint, she wasn’t inclined to grant him any brownie points.
“That’s far enough, Kozlov.” Galen’s voice came from her right. He stepped out from behind the wall, his own gun trained on the stranger. He had found time to throw on a pair of pants. He passed her a robe he held in his free hand. “You good?”
She hurried to wrap it around her and tie the belt. “I’m fine.”
Kozlov gave them both a long look and held his hands up, making a show of putting the safety on his gun. “I’m just here to talk.”
“Then talk.” Without looking over, Galen snagged her arm and pulled her over to stand behind him, putting his body between her and this Kozlov.
Hands closed on her shoulders and then Theo was there, moving to stand next to Galen. “Isaac. Been a long time.”
Kozlov—Isaac—started to bow and seemed to realize Theo was no longer Crown Prince. “Your Highness.”
“Not anymore.”
Isaac eyed Galen’s gun. “Phillip sent me to bring you in. He claims there are attempts on your life and he’s worried about you.” He slowly holstered his gun. “Struck me as funny. If he cared so much, why the fuck did he exile you in the first place. So that got me to thinking.”
“You should never think, Kozlov. It’s bad for your health.” Galen showed no signs of putting his gun down. His big back blocked most of her view of Isaac, but she wasn’t willing to peek around him for a better look. Obviously, they had history.
“Now, Mikos, don’t be like that. You know damn well that I could have walked in here and taken all three of you out while you slept. I’m the one who set up the fucking security in the first place. You think I can’t get past it?”
Meg blinked. Huh. Well that’s a twist.
Galen cursed and let his gun fall to his side. “What are you doing here?”
“Like I said, Phillip gave me an order. I’m obeying.”
Theo snorted. “Maybe the letter, if not the spirit. Did he want me trussed up like a turkey or just the traditional black bag over my head?”
Meg slid between them just enough so that she could actually see what was going on. Theo had his easy smile in place, but she knew him well enough to recognize it for the mask it was. Galen just looked like he was ready to shoot Isaac in the head and toss him into the sea. “I could really use some coffee.” She didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud until all three men looked at her. She swallowed hard and refused to wilt. “This sounds like it’s going to be a conversation they need to pay attention to, and coffee helps.”