Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
I nearly blew our cover when the woman moved to Aria and hugged her.
Hit with the intense urge to rip her arms from Aria, not wanting anyone close to her.
But we had a part to play, and I couldn’t go losing my cool.
Madge hugged Aria tight, and Aria actually relaxed into the embrace and hugged her back. “You came to the right place. Told you we’d take care of you.”
“You helped in a bigger way than you could ever know.” Aria exhaled heavily as she breathed the words.
Madge patted her on the back. “Well, it was nothing. You two take care of each other,” she said as she stepped away.
“Always will,” I promised low, though I directed that statement toward Aria.
Awareness spun between us, and Madge cleared her throat before she turned on her heel and headed back for the golf cart. “Have a safe flight, and I’ll be sending healing thoughts to your mother.”
She whipped the golf cart back around and blazed out of the hangar, and Aria gasped with relief as I moved to her. I pulled her flush against me, my arm around her waist as her sweet body pressed against mine.
Her warmth lit me through.
“We did it,” she breathed.
“You did it,” I murmured before I pulled back with a smirk. “Wife.”
A blaze of redness climbed up her neck and pooled on her cheeks. She fell into a sway with me as her teeth tugged at the inside of her lip. Her fingers were soft as they played along the neckline of my tee. “I don’t hate the sound of that.”
Surprise froze me for a beat.
Not once in this grueling, torturous life had I ever given thought to being married. The idea of it was nothing but a fucking joke. Like I’d ever let anyone get that close to me. Like I’d ever care. Like I could imagine this.
And there I was, picturing this woman in a pretty white dress with flowers in her hair.
Love rushed through the darkness that had always tainted my insides, and I slowed, slipping my hand to her waist as I dropped my forehead to hers . . . just breathing her in.
Swarmed by her scent.
The coconut.
The goodness.
The light.
“One day, Aria . . . one day I’m going to give you everything you want. Everything you have ever imagined that might make you happy. A normal life where you’re safe and you don’t have to forever look over your shoulder.”
We were going to make it through this. We had to.
Aria’s fingertips fluttered across my lips. “I just want you.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Pax
We touched down at a small airport outside of Portland just after 1:00 p.m.
Here, everything was green and wet. A ton of trees covered the rolling hills, the area lush, though the surrounding mountains that peaked into the sky were capped in snow.
The second the tires hit the runway, the breath whooshed out of Aria, though her anxiety seemed to double down. The frisson of it snapped across the surface of her skin, that overwhelming desperation to do something so clear I was close to suffocating from it.
Her need my own.
“Told you I was gonna get you here safe and in time to be with your mother,” Ken’s voice crackled through the speaker as we taxied down the runway toward the hangars. This airpark was quite a bit larger than the last, and there were at least eight hangars stacked in rows that went all the way back to a perimeter fence in the distance.
“You don’t know how much I appreciate it,” Aria returned.
“Ah, made my day, honestly. The two of you seem truly connected to each other. Love to see it. I’m just sorry your honeymoon got mucked up with the news about your mom. Hope it all works out right, that she’s good as new; then the two of you can get that time to celebrate together.”
“Me, too,” Aria whispered, and she glanced back at me, her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses.
Ken brought the plane to a stop in front of a larger building, and he said a few things into his mic before he pushed something on the dash and the propeller began to slowly wind down. Once it did, he popped his hatch and jumped down, and he came around to the other side.
He helped Aria out, then did the same to me.
“Just head in there through the doors. Here’s my card so you can forward your information.” He handed it to Aria.
Felt bad since the guy was cool and had saved our asses, but that was not going to happen.
“Thank you. I hope your flight home is safe,” Aria told him.
I shook his hand, mumbling my thanks, before I set my hand on the small of Aria’s back and guided her toward the door he’d pointed to. My attention swung back and forth, taking in the area as we went, making sure there wasn’t already some twisted bastard here waiting for us.