Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Her gaze finally drops, and she eats the rest of her meal in silence. Her mind is clearly focused on other things, and while she’s dropped it for now, I don’t doubt that the topic of my past will be coming up again very soon.
20
CAESAR
Pressing my foot to the gas, we sail down the street as Tilly holds a to-go tub of ice cream in her lap, her small plastic spoon barely surviving with each scoop she takes.
She’s barely tired now, her eyes wide open despite the massive night she’s had, and as I drive, I find myself passing the turn toward her apartment complex and head straight for my place instead.
Despite everything, despite knowing that I need to push her away and that she’s becoming far too attached to something that can never happen, I want her with me tonight. I want her in my bed, I want her head against my chest as she sleeps soundly, knowing that I would never let any harm come to her. I want her to be mine.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
Tilly notices straight away, her gaze slicing out the window as we pass her turn off, and when she casually glances back down at her ice cream and gets back to work, scooping another bite, I let out a breath, grateful that she didn’t feel the need to bring it up.
Knowing that she knows I want her with me is one thing, but having to explain myself is another whole battle that I’m not even a little bit prepared to face down.
It’s a short drive back to my place, and after parking in my garage and closing the automatic door behind me, I start leading Tilly in through the internal garage door as she shoves the shitty plastic spoon deep into her ice cream.
“Jesus,” she mutters to herself, the spoon getting stuck in the ice cream.
I glance down as she pulls against the spoon, the ice cream clearly still very frozen in the center, and as she yanks the spoon back out, the flimsy plastic bends, creating a catapult that sends a sloppy, wet dollop of ice cream launching right toward my chest.
It splatters against me, and both Tilly and I just stare at it, each of us in shock.
“Oh, shit,” she starts to laugh, knowing she’s in trouble now.
I shake my head, lifting my gaze to hers to see her already shrinking back as though she’s about to make a break for it. “Don’t even think about it, hellcat,” I rumble, taking the ice cream tub from her hand and sliding it onto the hallway table. “You’re gonna get on your knees and lick it off.”
“Oh yeah?” she questions, stepping closer, her eyes dancing with excitement. “And if I don’t?”
My hand falls to her waist, firmly squeezing, when a sound deeper in my home has a chill sailing down my spine. I grip Tilly harder and pull her straight behind me, the ice cream instantly forgotten.
“What’s wrong?” she whispers, her hand lifting to my back as my gaze sweeps through the darkened house.
“There’s someone in the house.”
“Zeph—”
“No,” I say, cutting her off. “His Range Rover wasn’t in the driveway. It’s not him.”
“Fuck.”
My thoughts exactly.
A moment of hesitation rocks through me. Do I send her out, lock her in the garage until I find the motherfucker currently in my home, leaving her as a prize to be found? Or do I bring her with me, making sure to have eyes on her the whole fucking time, even if it means getting an up-close view of the man I used to be?
Shit.
I grip her tighter as I creep deeper into my home. “Stay right behind me,” I tell her, slipping the shitty plastic spoon out of the ice cream and snapping off the top of it to create a makeshift knife. It’s not ideal, but it will do until I can get my hands on a proper weapon.
Tilly sucks in a breath, and while it’s barely audible, I hear it like a wave crashing in my ear, her fear radiating out of her as she clings to me. “I got you, hellcat,” I promise her. “You’re safe with me.”
“I know,” she murmurs, trusting me with her life when she shouldn’t.
We make our way to my foyer and through the main entrance before creeping into the opening of the living room, when a voice sounds through the darkness. “Is that you, Caesar?” a familiar purr says. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Unease blasts through me, and I pull Tilly across the room before reaching for the light switch, sending a blinding brightness through the room, only to find the woman from Vixen spread out across my lounge in red lingerie.
“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” I demand, irritated with myself for not checking my phone. There would have been more than just a few notifications from my home security system alerting me to a break-in, but I’ve been so focused on Tilly that I didn’t even notice.