Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
“The rest?”
“Yes.” He gave me a squeeze. “That being you admitting you’re falling for me. And both of us committing to taking that further.”
I wrinkled my nose.
He rolled us so he was on top.
“Catla,” he warned.
“Right, so catching you up. Gayle has been in touch. Not much, but we know she’s okay. I don’t think things are going great with her and Cormac. We have a conference comm scheduled to get the lowdown on Sunday.”
“All right.”
“And Mom and Dad aren’t speaking. Because of you.”
“Shit,” he murmured.
“They fight. They make up. Nothing to worry about. Mom’s pretty ticked, though. But she’ll get over it.”
“I didn’t miss she was ticked,” he muttered.
Go Mom!
I decided not to appear (too) smug and kept talking.
“And I have a spa appointment at Monique’s place tomorrow, which I suspect I’m going to have to cancel now.”
“Why?”
My eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Because you’re here.”
“I can visit with Aleksei. I can meet with members of the staff at the embassy. I can chill here with Hurley. How long will that take?”
I counted out the treatments I was going to get and said, “Probably around four hours, with travel time there and back.”
“Wait. Four hours?”
He looked shocked.
It was cute.
“Yes.”
“At a spa?”
“Yes.”
“What are they going to do?”
“The works. Mon’s place is pretty popular, but I can comm and see if she can fit you in if you want.”
“Thanks, no.”
“Big, bad male demon doesn’t get a facial?’ I teased.
“Yes.”
I started laughing.
I had red lightning when I quit.
“I fucking love your laugh,” he growled.
And farg me.
I loved how much he did.
“So I’ll find something to do for a few hours tomorrow. And I’ll head back home before you get together with your females on Sunday,” he summed it up.
That did not thrill me.
“I’ll be back Friday night, sweetheart,” he said in a tone that shared he knew it didn’t thrill me.
We both had lives, so I had no choice.
But I didn’t get out of bed and do cartwheels about it.
“Now you need to know, I’m taking over your security,” he declared.
Although this made sense, and it was so great that Aleksei was offering the RS, it felt like a burden and definitely a favor I could never repay.
Still.
“Tanyn—”
“No discussion. I know the RS has it tight. But I’ll be sending Nayden to you, and I know he’ll have it tighter.”
Uh-oh.
“What?” he asked.
Okay.
No.
I was not at one with how well he was able to read me.
Even so…
“I’m not sure he’s my biggest fan.”
Tanyn didn’t make me explain.
He knew.
Either Nayden shared it, or he didn’t hide it.
Thus, Tanyn said, “He’s protective of me. I got into some shit at The Eyrie. He took my back. I’ll have a word with him and he’ll get over it.”
“Rewind,” I said tartly. “You got into some shit at The Eyrie?”
“Yes.”
“What shit?”
“I was the king’s castoff son.”
Oh boy.
I could feel my eyes turning red.
“Relax, Cat,” he said, his tone appeasing. “It was twenty years ago.”
“So you didn’t get into some shit. They gave you shit.”
“Yes. That,” he confirmed.
“Are you joking?” I snapped.
“Sweetheart, they were privileged prisses. Not to mention, teenage boys can be complete dicks. But I grew up on a frozen island, fishing, chopping wood, swimming in the Borea Sea…”
Was he crazy?
He swam in that sea?
“…when shit got bad, I wiped the floor with them. And those I didn’t, Nayden did it. Or Uly did. It lasted a year. They learned their lesson. It stopped. And fortunately, the wife of the chief officer of the school was a good friend of Mom’s. So even though he knew we beat the absolute shit out of several of the cadets, he didn’t intervene or pull us up about it.”
“Well then,” I huffed. “Okay.”
His blue eyes were lit so much, they were blinding.
I’d know why when he said, “You are so totally falling for me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Get over yourself.”
“Don’t admit it, Cat. I don’t give a fuck. I see it.” He pressed his long, hard, naked body into mine. “And I feel it.”
“I’ll stop doing it if you crow about it.”
“I don’t have to, since you just admitted it.”
Bah!
“Get off me. I have to clean up.”
He rolled off, asking, “Do you want me to go get the rest of the wine?”
I did.
“Please,” I said as I sauntered into the bathroom.
When I got out of the bathroom, I had a wine cooler with a bottle in it and a couple of glasses sitting on a nightstand, and a hot guy under the covers in my bed. His back was to the headboard, pillows crunched up behind him. The covers were to his waist. His hair was a sex-head mess. His chest was on display. His eyes were lazy.
I wasn’t sure anything so beautiful had ever hit my gaze, and I’d devoted my life to art and managed an art gallery.
He lifted the covers when he saw me.