Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
“I know.” He finished with his tie and shrugged into his jacket. “Desperate times.”
“Very.” Charlie rose, and he caught his breath all over again at the sight of her. She wore a silver dress that just about hit the floor, a slight flare in the fabric drawing attention to her hips and narrow waist and how well her breasts filled out the beaded bodice. As she turned to the door, he staggered to a stop. The dress dipped down to just below the small of her back. Any lower and it’d be indecent, and he couldn’t stop staring, anticipating the fabric shifting just a bit.
She looked over her shoulder. “Marvelous, isn’t it?”
“That’s one word.” He cleared his throat, tamping down the need to tell her to put on a wrap or, even better, change. She wasn’t his. Walking into that room and drawing every male gaze was the intention. If the men were so busy thinking about her, they wouldn’t be watching their words as closely as they should.
Knowing that still didn’t dampen his desire to toss her on the bed and fuck her until his scent clung to her skin, so that every man she’d come into contact with tonight would have no doubt as to who she belonged to.
“Aiden?”
He blinked, finding her watching him with concern in her blue eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” She took a half step toward him before she seemed to remember their relationship wasn’t the kind that allowed for comforting. She gave a faint smile, something melancholy flitting across her expression before she shut it down. “If it’s any consolation, I have a large amount of respect for the lengths you’re willing to go for your family.”
John Finch had failed her horribly if she thought what Aiden was doing was admirable. Probably after she was labeled a dirty cop. In the research he’d done on the man, the FBI agent didn’t seem like the type to allow for gray area. Either a person was a criminal or they weren’t. To have his daughter labeled as one of the people he hunted had to have shaken him to the core.
Anger rose, threatening to melt the cold wall he kept around himself. It shouldn’t fucking matter if Charlie was a dirty cop. She was the last living member of Finch’s immediate family—his daughter. It wasn’t like she’d been accused of murder. The charge had been accepting a bribe, which was the very definition of petty shit. For her to be turned out after that…
It made him want to orchestrate a private conversation with John Finch that had nothing to do with the O’Malleys, and everything to do with the daughter he’d hurt so spectacularly with his callousness.
Aiden shifted, not liking the turn of his thoughts. Charlie was a means to an end. She’d have to fight her own battles—Aiden had enough people to watch over without adding a former cop who would never understand that his life wasn’t the same as most people’s and he could give two fucks how many laws he broke in the pursuit of protecting his family.
As much to remind himself as to remind her, he asked, “Does your father know where you are right now?”
Charlie frowned. “My father is no concern of yours.”
She didn’t ask how he knew enough about her father to ask, and he didn’t offer. Admitting that her role as John Finch’s daughter was a large reason why he’d singled her out might be enough to make her bolt, and Aiden had put too much time and money into this plan to change gears now.
No one but Charlie would do.
So he allowed her to change the subject.
She walked to the mirror and fixed her brilliant red lipstick, close enough that her shoulder brushed his. “Your sister is drowning. I think half the reason she’s been sneaking out is so someone will pay attention to her.”
He didn’t particularly want to hear about the ways he was failing Keira. He knew. He had been for years. “She’s not happy when I pay attention to her. She claims I’m stifling her.”
“And you just listen to her?” Charlie snorted, but the amusement fled as soon as it’d appeared. “Those ruined paintings in her room, the ones that have been ripped to shreds or smeared with black…those were hers, weren’t they? It’s not my place to say it—”
“Then don’t.” He spoke too harshly, but he couldn’t stop himself. Aiden put his hands on her hips and leaned against her back, pressing her against the counter and meeting her gaze in the mirror. “Leave it alone.”
She glared. “Don’t ask too many questions, don’t try to fix things. Am I allowed to piss without your permission, or should I check in with you first?”
This was what he needed—a fight or a fuck to burn off some energy before he had to get his mask firmly in place. “Don’t be pissy.”