Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 101872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
“That’s something we have in common, then,” she told him. “My past is as battered and dirty as a sedan in a demolition derby.”
His lips twitched. “I don’t mind dirty and battered. You need to know it’s not you. I’ve just had my plan in place for a while. I’m going to get myself a cabin in the woods. No one around. Just me. I want the peace . . . solitude. A place that’s just mine and I don’t have to deal with people.”
“Sounds . . . quiet.”
And kinda boring as hell.
“Just nature and the animals.”
Yeah. That sounded good for a weekend away. But a life of that?
She’d go batty.
Their plans definitely didn’t align, since she needed people around.
“That’s not going to happen for a while, though. And no one else knows my plan and I want to keep it that way. I wanted to tell you my plans because I don’t want you to think I’m playing with you. You could find a sure thing, Gem. A forever. And they would be proud to take you home to their parents. Hell, I would be. If they were still alive.”
She sucked in a breath. She wanted to tell herself that they were just words, but while she hadn’t known this man long, she did know that he always meant what he said.
“You mean that?”
“Course I do. Why would I say it if I didn’t mean it?” He gave her an incredulous look. As though he couldn’t understand why anyone would ever say something that they didn’t mean.
“I don’t want you to leave.”
He crouched down in front of her, placing his hands on her knees. “Haven’t been able to get you out of my brain, Opal. Keep thinking about you, worrying over you. Hell, I’ve been driving past your house every night just to make sure you’re safe.”
Her eyes widened as she gaped at him. “You’re joking?”
“Nope. I would try to go to sleep, to relax, but I couldn’t do it and so every night I’d drive by. Tonight, I even knocked on your door. Then I went by Dirty Delights. I need your phone number, by the way. That asshole, Devon wouldn’t give it to me.”
“You went looking for me?” she asked. “Is that why you ended up at the club?”
“Ahh, not exactly. But I’m glad I did.” He scowled. “Choosing that idiot to scene with was a big mistake. The guy had no clue what he was doing.”
She sighed. “I wasn’t very fair to him. I can be . . . challenging.”
“Don’t care if you’re a rooster dressed as a chicken, the guy had no clue. And if he didn’t think he could do the scene, he should’ve told you. I take it you told him what you wanted.”
“I did. But I didn’t tell him about my back.”
“Which you need painkillers for.” He stood, glancing around. “There a reason why there’s a bed in your living room?”
“You noticed it, then?”
“Kind of hard to miss, Gem.” He folded his arms over his chest. “This the reason you have a sore back?”
“Sort of. I decided I wanted to get rid of the carpet in the spare bedroom. So the other week I moved all of the furniture out of the bedroom and into here. Then, last night, I couldn’t sleep so I decided to rip up the carpet. I rolled it up and got it outside to the shed. It was when I was trying to get it into the shed that something kind of pinged in my back.”
“Kind of pinged? Did you happen to think that might be the time to stop carrying around a heavy roll of carpet?”
“I did,” she said slowly. “But I also wanted to get it into the shed.”
“And you didn’t think to, oh, I don’t know . . . call someone?” he asked.
“It was around three in the morning by that stage, so no.”
He muttered something to himself which sounded a lot like a prayer as he ran his hand over his face. “Swear to God, girl . . . why didn’t you leave the carpet where it was? Someone else could have moved it today.”
“I didn’t want it to look messy. Everyone on this street is so . . . neat. It’s infuriating.”
“Don’t think anyone is going to have a coronary over a bit of mess for a few hours,” he told her. “I also didn’t think you were the type of person to worry about what others think.”
“Neither did I until I moved into a cult. I swear they hook you in with all these wild promises . . . and then they follow through on those wild promises.”
He shook his head. “You got some drugs?”
“Nope.”
“What? What painkillers have you been taking?” he asked.
“None.”
“What?” He gave her a shocked look. “Why haven’t you been taking painkillers?”