Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“I don’t resent my brother,” she replied quietly. “Not even after what I learned today. I’m happy for him.”
He believed her. “And I’m thrilled for my sister. I love watching her dance. She’s happy and she makes other people happy. They have their path, and we have ours.”
“Ours is apparently getting stuck in this club.”
He shrugged. “Maybe that’s fate, too. Maybe it wouldn’t work if you had too much time to think. If there was space between us, your father might decide I’m not worthy of his sweet daughter and he would get a chance to convince you. But that’s not what happened, and we’re here for a while. I meant what I said. I’m not leaving you. If you’re stuck here, then so am I. If it gets to be too much, we can go to Australia. My parents’ station hasn’t sold yet. We can stay there for a bit and then move to The Garden. Traveling might be good for us.”
Daisy sighed. “Somehow I don’t see Uncle Ian paying you to go on vacation with me.”
“I think you’ll find everyone wants you safe. They might fight me on travel, but it’s a fight I can win. If for some crazy reason he fires me, well, I’ve got a bit of cash saved. I can take care of us until you’re safe. I’ll find another job, and we’ll figure out where we want to be.”
Tears filled her eyes. “You are too good to be true.”
“I assure you, love, I’m not.”
“I want to believe you,” Daisy whispered. “I want to believe in this. You don’t even understand how weird this is for me.”
“I do,” he argued. He knew her better than she thought he did. “You’re the girl who throws herself into everything. When you decide to do something, you give it one hundred percent of yourself. You take it with both hands and try everything you can to make it work.”
“Nothing works, Nate.”
She’d had the roughest of days, and he needed to find a way to bring back her natural resiliency. “Sure it does. You have friends who adore you, a family who does everything they can to protect you.”
“Yeah, up to and including ruining any chance I had at finding a boyfriend.”
He was upset for her about what her father had done, but he rather thought it had proved a point. “Baby, if a man is too afraid to date you because your father and brother threaten him, he doesn’t want you enough. I need you to understand absolutely no one in this world can keep me away from you except you. If you don’t want me, I’ll walk away, but you’re the only one who can make me. There’s no threat, no incentive, nothing can control me with the exception of you.”
“How can you know you want me?”
“Do you want me?”
Tears dripped from her eyes. “So much it hurts.”
He pulled her close. “And how can you know?”
“Because I always have,” she whispered. “Because I knew what I was doing when I put on Kenzie’s mask. I was going to steal a night from you.”
He chuckled, a warm feeling invading his bones. This was so much more than lust. This was the reason his dad lit up when his mum walked in a room. He couldn’t imagine the demons his father must have fought, the ones that made him walk away from this feeling. He wasn’t making the same mistake. He cuddled her against his chest. “Sorry, love. Your plan is not going to work out.”
She seemed to give in, relaxing against him. “You better be sure, Carter, because you’re right. When I’m in, I’m in. And when the whole stupid assassins are after me thing is over, I’m going to find a job I love and you can move into my house and… I still don’t know what to do about my da.”
“Your da is being an idiot.” Of this he had zero worries. Liam O’Donnell was scared of losing his daughter. He would figure this out. “And he’ll come around. He’s a smart man. Your mum is already cool with this.”
“My mum loves you,” she said quietly.
“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but your da does, too. Liam has been a solid figure in my life since I was a baby. His world is getting rocked right now, but he’ll see this is for the best in the end.” He breathed her in. There was such peace here. Daisy was a storm, but like a storm she was necessary, and the world felt fresh and new. “I promise you, this won’t last. He adores you, but change is hard. Aidan’s already on board. There’s no way your father doesn’t see this relationship is good for both of us. Until then, we should enjoy being alone. How many new couples get this kind of time together?”