Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Growing up in a laboratory, even if it wasn’t a facility like Whitney’s, was brutal on a child. He couldn’t imagine what Leila’s training had been like, especially when he’d witnessed the way the soldiers had callously treated what amounted to a dying woman. That revelation struck him. He’d thought the soldiers coming from the lab would be decent men, because Luther, his one example, had been. But the five soldiers he’d killed to keep them off Leila had failed to show compassion, empathy or even decency. Had she been exposed to those kinds of men after she’d turned ten?
“Leila, talk to me. You have to trust someone. Let that someone be me. I don’t consider myself the best of men, but I’m loyal, and I don’t break promises.”
Leila shook her head and looked at him. He read despair in her eyes. All that look did was make him want to gather her up and shelter her in his arms.
“You are the best of men, and that’s the problem, Diego. I know you think because you killed a few men that makes you irredeemable in some way, but it doesn’t. You were at war. Fighting for your country. It doesn’t matter if war was declared; you know we sometimes don’t have choices.”
His thumb continued to stroke along her delicate jaw, tracing that line, committing her features to his physical memory. That declaration shook him, whether he wanted to admit it or not. She wasn’t a liar. She spoke to him what she believed was truth. And she saw into him, past the bullshit persona he put out there for others to see. He knew she could see into that place in him that was all killer. Almost pure predator. The hunt was sacred to him. As necessary as breathing. Why didn’t she see that as a negative trait?
“Sweetheart, you’re looking beyond my worst characteristics because you think you need me to survive. Or you feel you owe me a debt.” He tried to be practical, not let her opinion of him wrap her around his heart. Who knew she would manage to gut him in such a short time? He had a high respect for Leila and the gifts she obviously had. “You’re at a place where you could do this on your own. It would be difficult, but you don’t need me.”
Her lashes were so damned long. That little flutter, the sweep up and down, veiling her expression and then revealing the vivid green of her eyes sent flickering flames dancing through his veins.
“I might not need you, Diego, but I want to be with you. I see darkness in you. You view that as a bad trait. I believe it’s what allows you to be so effective at what you do.” Her gaze shifted from his and then returned, the green going so vivid it appeared as though two jewels had been pressed into her face. “I have a child. A daughter. I killed her father.”
Diego heard the defiance in her voice. The expectation that he would condemn her. A child? He should have seen that when he was examining her. All he saw was the mess the bullet had made of her body.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that if you killed him, he deserved killing.” He kept his voice mild. Soothing. “And don’t cry.” He swept his finger under her left eye to remove the glittering liquid. “You’ll break my heart, and you’ve already put the damn thing in jeopardy.”
She blinked rapidly, her soft lips parting slightly. His body reacted in an inappropriate way for a doctor. Her doctor. He needed to keep reminding himself of that.
“He wasn’t the only one I killed that day. He had two friends with him. They were fellow soldiers, men I trained with. I kept to myself for the most part because many of the soldiers were amped up and seemed off to me.”
His gut tightened. He couldn’t abide men who beat or raped women. It was a huge trigger for him after the experiences of his childhood. He had a bad, bad feeling his little warrior woman had been exposed to men like the ones who had tried to rape her when she was at her most vulnerable.
“With that experience, it’s a wonder you went to your uncle with Bridget.” It was an effort to keep his voice mild and soothing, but he managed.
“Believe me, I was ready to kill him if needed. Bridget was in a bad way, and I needed to go back for my daughter. Before I could, I had to ensure Bridget would be safe. Luther was my only choice. I counted on the fact that my feelings of loyalty and need to protect family were just as strong in him.”
A daughter. That was the reason Leila had told Luther she had to leave but would come back. She had killed the child’s father along with two of his friends.