Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
When I walked in, Clarissa, the woman who’d helped me before, rushed over to greet me. “I’m so excited for you to see what we were able to do with the necklace.”
“So it is ready?” I asked.
“Yes, of course. I’ll go get it. Wait right here.”
I could barely breathe as I waited for her to return. When she opened the box and showed it to me, my jaw dropped. I’d had Maria get Rafe’s mother’s necklace after the NOPD impounded the wreckage of his car. She’d had to work through lots of channels but had finally succeeded. I’d been thrilled that the silver hadn’t melted, but I wasn’t sure it could be successfully restored.
Looking at it now, I would’ve thought it was new. All the thick soot was gone. The chain and the heart-shaped pendant were in perfect condition. I hoped Rafe would like it as much as I thought he would and that it would help him understand how much he meant to me, how much I wanted to take care of him and make him happy.
“It’s beautiful,” I said.
“It is. You said it was for a friend?”
“My boyfriend, actually.” I could say that now, and damn, it felt good.
“He’s a lucky man.”
I smiled. “I hope he thinks so.”
As soon as I’d paid for the restoration, Clarissa tucked it back into the velvet box and placed it in a fancy bag with a black ribbon. I looked at the time as I left the store. I had enough time to change and order us a delicious meal for when Rafe got home from the casino.
He’d started working more daytime hours since he insisted I move in. He wanted me to get plenty of sleep, and he didn’t like leaving me for very long. It was fucking adorable, but there had been a few weeks when his hovering had started to make me lose my fucking mind.
Now that he didn’t come home in the middle of the day, I missed him. I sighed as I remembered what he liked to do to me in the middle of the day. He was going to have to accept that I was back to full health and ready for things to get a lot more gymnastic.
Rafe
I felt like I’d been away from Zach for ages, even though I’d only been gone about six hours. I couldn’t wait to see him again. I always felt like that when we were apart. I thought the constant need to be around him would stop after I’d satisfied myself that he really, truly was okay and there wouldn’t be any lasting repercussions from the time he’d spent as Ivanov’s captive, but I was still fucking giddy every time I saw him, and I still needed him constantly. I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone ever hurting him again.
As I stepped into the house, I noticed how amazing it smelled. “Zach? Did you make dinner?” So far, I’d never seen him cook anything other than toast and scrambled eggs. When he appeared in the kitchen doorway, my heart skipped a beat. “Oh my God, you look incredible.”
He smiled as I walked toward him. “You like it?”
I nodded as I reached up and touched one of his curls. It was soft, and it sprang back perfectly when I pulled it through my fingers.
“Simone did my hair. She put some stuff in it to make my curls like this. What do you think?”
I sighed. “I think I’m in love.”
“With me?”
“No, with Simone. I should’ve sent you to her ages ago.”
Zach rolled his eyes. “Notice anything else about me?”
I gave him a slow once-over, and I saw shoes, regular fucking shoes, on his feet. “No more boot?”
“That’s right. The doctor said I’m done with it. I can walk and put regular weight on it.” I sucked in my breath as he held my gaze and ran his tongue over his lower lip. “So it’s time to revisit some of my favorite things to do to you.”
Heat raced through me as he smiled. I’d been so careful with him. I’d insisted he take it slow and insisted he let me ride him so he didn’t put weight on his foot. I couldn’t let him risk hurting himself again, but now he was going to fuck the hell out of me tonight, and I was going to love it.
He held out his hand. I took it, and he pulled me into the kitchen.
“I ordered dinner for us,” he said. “It’s all in the oven, keeping warm.”
My cock responded to the look he gave me. “Is there something you thought we should do before we ate?”
“Actually, yes.” He reached for a gift bag that was sitting on the counter. “I wanted to give you this.”
I frowned at him. Why was he getting me a gift? He was the one who’d just hit a major milestone.