Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44902 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44902 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“I’m going to keep you and Lily safe, Landry,” he vows against my lips as if reading the turmoil in my mind. Before I can respond, he sweeps me up into his arms.
I cling to his shoulders as he crawls onto the bed and then lays me out. My heart beats a thousand miles a minute when his lips brush mine again. But he doesn’t take it any further. He simply groans and rests his forehead against mine momentarily before settling beside me.
Once he’s pulled the blankets up over us, he pulls me into his arms, his lips brushing my crown. “Sleep, sweetness. I’ve got you.”
I’m too tired to argue.
My eyes close, and I sleep harder than I have in a long time.
My dreams are the same as usual. That day with Keegan. Running. Garrick and the MC cornering me in an alley in St. Louis. The hopeless realization that there is no escape this time.
I jerk awake with a gasp as Garrick lunges for me.
My heart jolts against my ribcage in an unsteady rhythm.
“Lily,” I gasp. I need to get my daughter. I need to protect her.
“Easy, Landry baby,” Keegan rumbles, wrapping one arm around my waist before I can lunge from the bed. “She’s safe. She’s asleep in the bassinet.”
I crane my neck, only drawing a breath when I see her sleeping peacefully, one fist pressed against her lips. My entire body goes weak.
I collapse back against Keegan, shivering.
“Are you okay?” he murmurs, brushing strands of hair away from my face.
“Yes. How long was I asleep?”
“A few hours. You were having nightmares?”
I jerk my chin in a nod, avoiding his intense gaze. “I should feed and change her again.”
“I already did.”
My eyes widen. “You did?”
“Mmhmm,” he hums, still watching me. “Found a bottle and formula in her diaper bag.”
I stare at him, my heart fluttering. He’s fallen so easily into the role of daddy. It’s beautiful and devastating at the same time. So much time was stolen from him already. It’s really not fair.
“I’m sorry,” I rasp.
His brows furrow.
“That you’re only just getting the chance to be her daddy,” I explain. “You lost so much time with her. It isn’t fair to you.”
“It wasn’t fair to you either. You didn’t ask to be sold or locked away.” He cups my cheek, stroking his fingers beneath my eye. “I’m so fucking sorry I didn’t know.”
“Please don’t do that,” I whisper. “Don’t apologize like you did something wrong. You were…” My voice cracks. “Until Lily, you were the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Christ, I missed you every goddamn day, sweetness. One day with you, and you turned me inside out. You haunted me every day.” He strokes my cheek again. “All I had was your note, and it drove me crazy.”
I wrap my hand around his wrist, my eyes locked with his. “I t-thought about you so much.” I inhale a breath, reaching deep for a little courage. “When I felt like I couldn’t keep going, I…I remembered that day with you. I thought about Lily and how much you deserved to know about her.”
“Christ,” he groans, sliding across the bed toward me. “You’re killing me, Landry baby.”
“I don’t mean to.”
“I know. It’s you, sweetness. It’s having you right here in front of me again. It’s knowing you had my baby.” His eyes darken, a storm rolling through them. “It’s wishing you’d been right here in my arms for the last year.”
I don’t know what to say to any of that when it feels a little like he’s in my head, reading my thoughts, feeling the same things I do. It’s overwhelming in a way I like. So I don’t say anything.
Instead, I do the same exact thing I did back then. I lean forward, pressing my lips to his.
He grunts, his hand sliding into my hair to pull me closer. His tongue touches mine, sending a frisson of heat through me. He kisses me like he’s starving for me, growling against my lips.
I whimper into his mouth, squeezing my thighs together like that’ll help the ache between them any at all. I know better now, though. The only thing that helps is him between them. His fingers and tongue and cock. It’s him surging inside me, so deep I feel him in my soul.
“Keegan,” I moan, my hands sliding into his hair as the ache becomes unbearable. I need him to make it better. To hold me together.
“Christ, say my name like that again,” he demands, rolling me beneath him. His body settles on top of mine, and I arch into him, wanting every inch of him pressed to me.
“Keegan,” I moan again, willing to give him anything in this moment.
He nips my bottom lip, one hand slipping between us. His fingers glide along the sensitive skin of my waist, beneath my shirt. I practically quiver underneath him, so damn eager.