Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
The weight of his words settled in my stomach like lead. I hadn’t asked for this, hadn’t wanted to become a pawn in some vendetta that started long before I entered the picture. Yet here I was, caught in the middle of a conflict I barely understood.
“I want you to stay here,” Marcus continued, his thumb brushing over my knuckles in a gesture that had already become familiar. “At the compound. With me.”
My pulse quickened. Stay here? I didn’t want to be that too-stupid-to-live naked girl in the slasher movie who ran into the tool shed filled with all kinds of big-ass saws and knives rather than the running car, but I knew I was going to stay with Marcus. Part of me I hadn’t known existed until I met this man whispered that I’d never felt safer than I did within these walls.
I took a breath, trying to think rationally and not with my heart. Which was damned near impossible considering I was wired to follow my heart. “For how long?”
“A week. To start.” His expression remained unreadable, but something in his eyes softened. “Long enough for me to deal with Reeves. For us to figure out what we want from each other.” His fingers tightened slightly over mine.
I glanced away, unable to hold the intensity of his gaze while my thoughts tumbled over each other like clothes in a dryer. My free hand found the edge of the sheet, fingers working the fabric between them in nervous motion.
“I can take you to your apartment,” he continued. “You can pack what you need. Couple of the brothers will come along. Make sure we’re not followed so Reeves can’t blindside you again.”
“What about my job?” I asked, latching onto the practical concern. “I still need to work.”
“Are you required to work to keep your job?”
I shook my head. “No. It’s just kind of work when you want.”
“Good. We can play it day by day. If I can’t convince you to take a few days off, I can at least make sure you’re safe when you go.” The simplicity with which he approached these complications should have annoyed me. Instead, it was strangely reassuring.
I shifted, finally meeting his eyes again. My pulse throbbed at my wrists, at my temples, marking time in a rhythm that felt too fast. “Marcus, I barely know you,” I said, the words catching in my throat. “And yet…”
“And yet?” he echoed, the two simple words somehow encapsulating everything between us.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself. “I’ve spent my life since I ran away making careful choices, trying to keep myself as safe as I could without smothering myself. Those choices led me to a life where no one would have noticed if I disappeared.” My voice grew stronger as I continued, finding truth in the words as I spoke them. “But being with you feels like the first correct choice I’ve made. Everything is moving so fast,” I admitted, my fingers now fidgeting with the edge of the pillowcase, “but I can’t fight what I want with every fiber of my being. So I’m not going to try.”
His eyes flashed with hunger and a possession that should have frightened me. Instead, I felt an answering hunger deep in my belly. He moved his hand from mine to my cheek, calloused palm warm against my skin as he brushed my lower lip with his thumb.
I leaned into his touch, but couldn’t resist adding, with a sudden flash of humor that surprised even me, “But if you break my heart, I’ll cut yours out with a spork.”
The laugh that erupted from him caught me completely off guard. Not the quiet chuckle or subtle smirk I’d witnessed before, but a full, deep belly laugh that transformed his entire face. Lines I’d never seen before appeared around his eyes, his head tipped back against the headboard, and the sound… God, the sound was like music I hadn’t known I’d been waiting to hear.
“A spork?” he managed, his shoulders still shaking with mirth. “Why a spork?”
“Maximum inefficiency,” I replied, finding myself smiling in response. “I’d want it to take a while.”
Another burst of laughter, and the knot of tension I’d been carrying for so long I’d forgotten it was there suddenly loosened. The relief was so immediate I nearly gasped. Seeing this side of Marcus, unguarded, genuine humor, felt like discovering a secret garden behind a wall of thorns.
When his laughter subsided, he studied me with new eyes, as if seeing something in me he hadn’t noticed before. “I won’t break your heart, Cora.” The humor was gone, replaced by something solemn, almost reverent. “That’s a fuckin’ promise.”
I believed him. Despite everything logic told me, despite knowing him for such a short time, I believed him with a certainty that felt like coming home.