Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
She tilted her head back again, her eyes meeting his. The light green of his eyes seemed to burn brighter than ever, nearly glowed. In that moment he looked more animal than man. More killer than human. Her breath caught in her lungs and stayed trapped until her chest felt burned and raw—not from fear. She was looking straight into the hell he had trapped in his gaze. That was somewhere deep, just as the trauma of her childhood was trapped deep in her.
“Honey.” She whispered the endearment and slid her arms around his neck to lock her fingers at his nape, her heart aching for him. Had he sounded angry or bitter, it would have been so much easier. The patient acceptance in him was her undoing. She brushed kisses along his strong jaw and over his stubborn chin. “Where was your mother? Where were the cops? Wasn’t there anyone to help you?”
He was quiet for so long, she was afraid he wouldn’t continue. “You don’t have to tell me anything else if you prefer not to, Wilder. I don’t talk about my family or my upbringing even to my friends. Or at least, I give minimum information. I totally understand.”
She did understand, and she never wanted Wilder to feel as if he had to disclose information about his past—about his family—in order to appease her. “I’m already committed to you. I know that you’re my choice. You probably will come to regret that you persuaded me. I’m a total disaster, but no matter what, you’re my choice. You don’t have to give me anything you don’t want to.”
He framed her face with his large hands and tilted her head so she was looking directly into his eyes. “Right there is why I fell hard for you, woman. You may not know it yet, and I’ll get you there, but you’re extraordinary. There is no one else in this world like you.”
Wilder pressed his forehead to hers. She breathed him into her lungs. Took in his scent. It was strange how intimacy could be about everything but sex. They hadn’t had sex. She didn’t feel any pressure from him, only this extraordinary closeness she’d never experienced with another human being.
Even the sound of the phone ringing obnoxiously couldn’t detract from that moment. Their moment. That shared intimacy she felt with him that she’d never experienced before.
“My father ran a survivalist camp in the Rocky Mountains up near the Canadian border. He deliberately chose an area that was difficult to get into—or out of. Misfits, angry vets, men who had grudges and were just as sadistic as my old man, joined him. He beat my mother and kept her totally isolated, even from the other women. Mostly because the things he liked to do to her and us couldn’t be hidden. When I got old enough, I tried to interfere. The best I could do was keep his attention on me while she found a place to hide.”
He gave her a twisted smile that didn’t go anywhere near his eyes. “My brother was four years younger than me. His name was Jay, and he had a smile that could light up the world. He adored our mother.”
She despised the note of sorrow that leaked into his voice when he looked so completely stoic. She found herself holding her breath. She knew whatever he was about to tell her would be bad. Very bad.
“One day, Mom met us in the house while Dad had gone up the mountain with his friends. She had a duffel bag stuffed full of her belongings. I knew by the look on her face, but Jay…He was certain she was taking us out of there. Getting us away from him.”
A muscle ticked along his jaw. He raked his fingers through his hair several times. “She told us she was leaving, and she couldn’t take us. Her excuse was that if she went alone, without us, she’d have a better chance of getting away clean. He might let her go. But if she took us, he would never stop looking. Never. She was right too.”
“Wilder.” She breathed his name, needing to hold him.
“Jay pleaded with her to take him, but she refused. She just walked out. He was devastated.”
Jay wasn’t the only one devastated. Harlow knew Wilder had been just as destroyed, maybe even more so, but he would never admit it to himself.
“She left you knowing how your father was? Knowing how he treated you?” She couldn’t hide her shocked reaction. It was his mother. The woman who should have been protecting her sons. There was a short silence. She was positive she had offended him.
“What would you have done?” His green eyes looked even lighter, almost glowing at her in the darkness.
“Honestly?” She stuck her chin in the air. “If he were torturing my sons and beating the hell out of me, I’d probably introduce something into his food to make him drowsy, and then I’d slit his throat when he was asleep. I’d have my boys packed and ready to go, and we’d go armed. Anyone trying to stop us would get shot.”