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)
Holy. Moly. She looked terrible.
“What’s wrong? Are you ready to come out yet?” Eli asked.
“Um, give me a second,” she said as she washed her face and tidied up her hair. She wished there was a toothbrush in here.
What sort of breath must she have? And she desperately needed a shower.
Walking over, she opened the door. Eli stood on the other side, his hands on his hips as he glared at her. “Why are you walking?”
“Eli, nothing happened to my legs! I went into anaphylactic shock. That doesn’t mean that my legs don’t work. I’m fine today. I could have gone for a run with Kellan.”
Although he’d left before she’d woken up.
“Like hell,” he said, picking her up and carrying her back to the bed. He laid her in and pulled the covers over her before sitting and facing her.
Then he cupped her chin, tilting her head back. “You’re precious. And you deserve to be treated as such. Maybe that means we’re a teensy bit overprotective. But I’d rather that than you get hurt.”
Shoot.
Well, that stopped her complaints. Wouldn’t she prefer that they cared too much than not at all?
Definitely yes.
Leaning in, he kissed her lightly. It didn’t take long until she was melting into the kiss and parting her lips.
Then she remembered the fact that she hadn’t brushed her teeth.
Oh no!
She drew her head back so quickly that she smacked into the headboard behind her. A groan of pain escaped her before she could stop it.
“Fuck!” he said. “Are you all right? Did you hurt your head? Oh, baby. Let me see.”
“I’m fine. It was just a small bump.” She rubbed her head, trying to hold back her tears at the sting.
Ouch.
She really was having a rough time.
He leaned her forward and gently pressed on her head. Arabella hissed as he touched a sore patch.
“There’s a small lump. Nothing too bad.” He helped her sit back and then held up three fingers.
“How many fingers can you see?” he asked.
“Eighty-two.”
He eyed her. “Eighty-two? How many people are in here? Twenty?”
She snorted then froze.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing, just my father hated when I snorted. And three fingers.”
“Who had three fingers?” he asked. “And I think you’re cute when you snort.”
“You do. You have them raised. Three fingers. And snorting is not cute.”
“Oh yes, it is. When you do it anyway.” He held her chin again as he studied her eyes. “Pupils look okay.”
“I don’t have a concussion. It was just a small bump.”
“Can never be too cautious. Why did you jerk back like that? If you don’t want me to kiss you, just pull away and tell me no. Or I can give you a safeword if you like.”
There was a strange note in his voice. It almost sounded like he felt unsure? Vulnerable?
Shoot. She hated that she might have made him feel that way.
“It’s not that. I didn’t want to stop.”
“It didn’t look that way to me,” he told her.
“No, it’s just that . . . urgh, I haven’t brushed my teeth!” she blurted before she chickened out.
He blinked as he stared at her. “That’s it?”
“That’s a big deal. My breath is probably rancid. This is so embarrassing.”
“Nothing should be embarrassing between us,” he told her. “You can tell me everything. And your breath isn’t rancid. Next time, just tell me you need to stop. But, just so you know, I don’t care about your breath. All I cared about was the way you kissed me back. Like you wanted me.”
“There shouldn’t be any doubts about that,” she muttered.
He grinned. “That’s good to know. Now, I’ve ordered breakfast, it will be twenty minutes. Kellan said he will be back by then. I’m going to take Horse out and I’ll get you a toothbrush from the hotel shop, all right?”
“Thank you.”
“Then I can kiss you without you giving yourself a concussion.”
Oh yes, please.
“Anything else you need?” he asked.
“Um, maybe a hairbrush if it’s not a problem. Or I can go down.”
“I can see it’s going to be hard to teach you how to let others take care of you, isn’t it? Stay in bed.”
Getting off the bed, he grabbed Horse’s lead. “Come on, Horse.”
Horse just stared at him balefully before sighing and laying his head back on the bed.
“Horse, go with Eli,” she said. “It will only be for a moment.”
Horse climbed off the bed, moving slowly like this was a huge inconvenience for him.
She loved that dog.
“We’ll be five minutes. Don’t open the door to anyone. Kellan has a keycard and so do I. Behave.”
He said that like he thought she wouldn’t behave.
Sheesh.
As soon as they had left, she glanced at the bathroom door. Hmm. Five minutes was plenty of time for a quick shower, right?
Because she was starting to feel gross. And if they kept insisting on getting close to her and touching her, then the last thing she wanted was to be smelly.