Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
“The doctor.” My stomach sinks.
“Yeah, and you know how that turned out.”
Dr. Rhett Howell lied about being her gay best friend. Turns out, he was her stalker, her kidnapper, and her rapist. Until the Strakhs hunted him down and hacked him into three hundred pieces.
“She needs a good friend, Bluebell.” Wolf entwines our fingers. “And so do you.”
Leo stirs on the lounger and lifts on an elbow, his dual-colored eyes searching, searching… When he spots Frankie twirling in Monty’s arms, his face brightens. Softens. Fucking melts.
He pushes to his feet, strong and balanced, like a Viking born for the sea. Monty notices him and, without breaking rhythm, passes Frankie smoothly into Leo’s waiting arms.
Leo catches her, his big hands settling on her hips. She beams up at him, rising on tiptoes to loop her arms around his neck. He sways with her, awkward and adorable, his feet doing something that can’t be called dancing, but she laughs like it’s the best performance she’s ever seen.
Kody leans against the railing, an unguarded smile glittering in his black eyes. He doesn’t move toward them. Just watches in his brooding way. Content.
Leo tries to spin Frankie and nearly flings himself sideways, but Frankie saves it, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. They sway again, slower this time, her cheek resting on his chest.
Then Monty slips in behind her, one hand at her waist, the other on Leo’s bicep. She sighs as they sandwich her between them, the three of them stepping to the music and bumping into Kody, their movements imperfect and unsynchronized, yet in total harmony.
Wolf regards them with a soft hum in his throat, his chin nudging my temple.
“That,” he murmurs, “is how they survived.”
Frankie presses her freckled nose to Leo’s chest, her hand reaching back to squeeze Monty’s ass, her other reaching for Kody.
Kody takes it and joins their circle.
She looks held from all sides.
She looks safe.
She looks loved.
I understand what Wolf means when he says this family doesn’t operate by normal rules. They don’t patch wounds with distance. They patch them with closeness. With touch. With presence. With whatever strange balancing act keeps them from tipping over again.
Frankie laughs louder as Leo spins her. Badly. Monty stumbles. Kody steadies him, and the foursome dissolves into a golden knot of motion and light.
“Come on.” Wolf slides his hands beneath my thighs and lifts me.
My arms wind around his neck as he carries me out onto the deck. Sunlight washes over his dark hair, the breeze tugging at it like even the wind wants a piece of him.
He sets me on my feet, his palms wrapping around my waist, guiding me close, his body pressing along mine. He starts to move with the music, far more skilled than I expect from a man who grew up in the frozen wilderness.
He’s tall and heat-warm, firm everywhere, his chest a solid wall my hands can’t stop groping.
His virile scent wraps around me, and his arms curve around my back, pulling me in until there’s no space left, his breath caressing my cheek, his confidence enveloping me in a protective embrace.
I melt. Full-on, shameless melt. My knees go soft. My pulse sings, and I let him move us across the deck in fluid, deliberate steps that feel indecently sexy.
“Your turn,” I whisper. “Ask me if I’ve ever danced with a man before.”
He bends his neck, mouth hovering near my ear. “Have you ever danced with a man?”
“No.”
Pleasure shimmers across his gorgeous face. His fingers tighten at my waist, drawing me even closer. He stands taller, prouder, and it hits me how much he loves this. How much I love giving him this. How he looks at me like I’ve handed him the world.
And I’m happy, too. Not the fleeting kind. The deep, forever kind that reshapes my heart.
He spins me, catches me against his chest, and I laugh, unfiltered and honest.
Surrounded by glittering water and the laughter of family, we dance in the warm sunlight. I lean into him fully, letting the day be exactly what it is.
Beautiful. Simple. Safe enough that neither of us pulls away.
Maybe that’s the biggest question answered today.
At the end of our one-week hiatus on the island, I finish towel-drying my hair in the bathroom and stare at the fogged mirror.
My reflection looks… Different. Unsettled but not in a bad way. More like I’ve been unplugged and rebooted, and all my internal parts have recalibrated around… Him.
My darling wolf.
This week gave us quiet mornings, slow nights, honest answers, stolen hours where nothing hurt, and the best sex of my life.
He taught me how to fish off the dock, and I learned that I don’t have the patience for it. We played cards with his family, and I learned that Leo is a sore loser and that Kody is a sneaky cheat.