Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 22106 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22106 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
I suck in a breath and hold it. For months, I’ve kept my hands to myself. I’ve wanted to touch her and to make her mine since the minute I first laid eyes on her. But this is a whole other level of temptation.
She puts her fingers into the waistband of her panties and then slides the material down her legs. My gaze travels down her body. Her round breasts and pert nipples are begging to be touched. I’m about to reach for her when the sight of her bruised ribs stops me. I can’t do this. Not now.
I turn back to the bathtub and turn off the water. I clench my eyes closed and try to get a hold of myself before I turn back to her. “I’m going to help you in, and then I’m going to give you some space.”
“No,” she says and shakes her head. “I mean, please don’t leave.”
CHAPTER 5
ALICE
I’m standing in front of him, naked. I should probably cover myself, but I don’t. Even though I’m curvy, I’ve never been ashamed or embarrassed of my body. And even though this is probably weird for him, I really don’t want him to leave. I start to ramble. “I know nothing is going to happen to me here. I know that I’m safe… I just… I know I’m safe with you, Grey… I don’t want to be alone.”
He nods tightly at me. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I look up at him, wide-eyed. I wait for him to say more, but he just stares back at me. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him to get into the bathtub with me, but I know he’ll really think that is weird. We don’t have that type of relationship.
He’s always kept me at arm’s length. He likes to boss me around. He took to heart what Pres said about keeping the guys away from me, and even though our friends have talked about how they think Gunner and I have some kind of relationship, we don’t. Heck, we spend most of our time arguing.
“I’m sorry—” I start, thinking I need to apologize to him.
He shakes his head, and his nostrils flare. “Don’t apologize to me. You never have to apologize to me.”
I nod and slowly walk to the bathtub. As soon as I’m about to climb in, Gunn reaches for my arm and helps me in. I settle into the hot water, letting it surround me. The bubbles hide my body, and I swear he’s relieved when he no longer has to look at me.
I try not to be offended. Greyson turns his back to me, and I hold back a laugh. “You just saw me naked. You don’t have to turn around.”
Awkwardly, he turns back toward me, but he looks everywhere but at me. I point to the shelf. “Can you grab me a hair tie?”
He grabs it, and holds it out to me. I hold up my wet hands and try to shake the water off, but he squats, sitting on the edge of the tub. “Here, I’ll get it.”
He gathers my hair together and then piles it on top of my head. It takes him a few tries, but he finally gets it all up in a wild bun on top of my head. “Thank you,” I mutter.
He finally looks into my eyes and nods. He’s about to stand up, but I put my wet hand on his denim-clad leg. “No, don’t go. Can you sit there?”
He nods again.
With him sitting this close, I lean my head back on the edge of the bath tub and close my eyes. “Talk to me, Grey.”
His voice is gruff. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Do you hate it when I call you by your real name?”
He clears his throat. “No, you can call me Greyson or Grey. But nobody else better try it.”
A warm feeling wraps around me. “Do you like working at Heat & Ink?”
“Yes,” he answers immediately.
“What do you like to do in your spare time?”
“Umm, ride my bike into the mountains.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
I ask the question and hold completely still. I would think, if he had one, I would know about it, but who knows?
It feels like he takes forever, but he finally answers me. “No, I don’t.”
“Are you guys going to kill that man downstairs?”
He shifts next to me, but my eyes are still closed.
He lowers his voice. “Princess, you know what we are, and you know we’ve killed for less.”
When I don’t say anything, he continues, “Do you understand what could have happened to you?”
I let out a breath. “Yeah, I know. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
I feel his fingertips on my bare shoulder, but I don’t dare move. Hell, I don’t even breathe because I don’t want him to stop.