Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 113272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
She nodded, trying to keep her composure. It used to be easy to keep a mask in place, but it seemed to have become increasingly harder.
“Am I in trouble?” she asked.
“With Jake? No,” Kellan said. “With us? Yes. Since we’re now your guardians.”
26
“Wait When did this happen?” Jake asked.
“We’ve been thinking about it for a while,” Eli told him. “We just had to wait until Arabella was comfortable with the idea.”
“And are you, Arabella?” Jake asked. “You can say if you’re not. If you don’t want that there will be no repercussions.”
This was it.
The moment that could change everything. If she said no, then what would happen? She didn’t agree that there would be no repercussions.
There were always repercussions.
Maybe they’d never ask again. Maybe they’d leave and not want anything to do with her.
But was she ready for that leap?
“Can you give us a moment, Jake?” Eli asked.
Jake looked at her. “That okay with you, Arabella?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I think it might be a good idea.”
“All right. I’m going to try and call Ravina. I’ll let her know what’s happened if you like? And I will call Mrs. Taylor as well.”
“Oh, I should do that.”
Jake shook his head. “I’ve got it. Take one thing off your plate. I’ll be back in about ten minutes.”
“Thanks, Jake,” she said.
After he left, Kellan stood and set her down on the sofa. She immediately felt the loss.
Was he angry over her hesitation? If he was, she got it. She should just trust them. Without trust it wouldn’t work.
“Are you upset with me? I know we talked about it. I’m just . . . I’m scared.”
Kellan kneeled in front of her while Eli took her hand in his and squeezed it. She immediately felt grounded.
Why was she hesitating?
These guys were amazing.
Sure . . . she’d only known them a few weeks, but it wasn’t like they were asking her to marry them.
They said they would go slow.
But maybe it was best for Jake to remain her guardian for a while? Although she hated the fact that she was in trouble with him. It felt weird. Strange.
“No one is upset at you,” Eli told her. “But you shouldn’t feel scared. What you need to realize is that we will do anything to keep you safe. And that we would never harm you. If we did, you can punish us.”
“Me punish you guys?” she asked. That seemed ridiculous. Look at the size of them! Although she guessed not all punishment had to be physical.
“Although nothing you could do to us would be as bad as what we would do to ourselves if we harmed you,” Eli added.
She sucked in a breath. She’d never encountered anyone like the two of them.
Protective, possessive, careful with her safety and health.
Bossy, ridiculously so.
But no one had ever put her best interests first. Maybe Pop-Pop but she’d taken care of him more than the other way around.
Was that why she was hesitating? Because she hadn’t experienced this before?
Because she couldn’t believe that someone might feel like this about her?
Yeah, her self-esteem was in the toilet. And she had to do something to bring it back up.
She also had to realize that maybe Laken and Shaw were right.
She deserved to be happy.
“It might seem like we have all the power,” Kellan whispered to her. “But you are the center of everything. We’re the ones orbiting you. You are the focus. Everything we do will be with you in mind.”
“Even when we spank your ass for breaking the rules.” Eli gave her a serious look.
“What if I don’t want to be spanked?”
“Like we said before, that’s not the only punishment that we can come up with,” Kellan told her. “There are other things.”
“Although I personally think that spanking works the best and you can’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” Eli said.
“Have you tried it?” she asked Eli.
“Yep. I didn’t care for it.” He grinned as she gaped at him.
“Someone spanked you?”
“It was part of our training for a club we’re members of in Houston,” Eli explained. “We don’t go there much anymore, though.”
“So you were spanked too?” she asked Kellan.
“The guy spanking him was actually shaking in fear,” Eli told her.
She bet.
“I’d have paid good money to see that,” she murmured.
“Brat,” Kellan said. But there was something hot in his eyes that said he didn’t mind a bit of sass.
“We want to take care of you, not hurt you,” Eli told her. “We can go at your pace when it comes to our relationship, but we also can’t stand the idea of someone else having responsibility for you.”
“You’re ours,” Kellan said.
Eli shot him a look, then stared back at her. He seemed to be bracing himself for her response.
Probably worried that they were scaring her away.
She knew she was a bit of a flight risk. She’d pushed them away once before. It was terrifying. She could take a leap and fall.