Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 60848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
When I could move again, I shifted to lie beside him, my head pillowed on his uninjured shoulder.
“Do you hurt much?” I asked, my touch featherlight over a particularly angry-looking bruise on his ribs.
He caught my hand, bringing it to his lips. “Nothing I can’t handle. And any pain I might have felt was overshadowed completely by pleasure.”
I frowned, unconvinced. “You don’t have to be stoic with me. I saw what they did to you.”
His expression softened. “Honestly? It hurts like a bitch. But it’s getting better.” He pressed a kiss to my palm. “And it was worth it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. All of it.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, my throat tight with emotion. “For protecting us. With your body. And your heart.”
Tiny’s eyes held mine, serious and sincere. “I’d endure it a thousand times to keep you safe. All three of you.”
I believed him completely. This man, who’d spent fifteen years in prison for protecting his sister, understood the fierce, primal need to safeguard those you love. He’d taken on Andy and his men without hesitation, putting himself between danger and my family without a second thought. I was glad they’d found a way to make Andy pay for what he’d done and intended to do to Zelda without anyone getting into trouble.
“What’s going to happen to Andy? I don’t want him to come after Zelda again.”
“He’s going to prison for a long fuckin’ time. Knight’s makin’ sure the evidence is solid. Knuckles told me Tonio Miles has some pull with several judges in the system. We do work for the Miles family that’s critical to them, so he was more than happy to help put an evil bastard like Andy Harlow in hell.” The smile on his face turned slightly sinister for a brief moment as he said, “I have it on good authority the poor bastard won’t last long enough to have to sign divorce papers.” Then he shrugged. “If he does? Well, Knight can do all kinds of things he’s not supposed to do. I have no doubt he can make shit happen.”
“I never thought I’d find this,” I admitted, my voice barely audible even in the quiet room. “Someone who makes me feel safe. A home. A family who would protect my girls if I couldn’t.”
His arm tightened around me. “You deserve to feel safe, Penny. All of you do.”
I rested my head on his chest again, listening to the steady thump of his heart. The sound was reassuring, solid and strong, just like the man himself. I traced the outline of a bruise near his collarbone.
“I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop,” I confessed. “For something to go wrong. It’s hard to believe this is real.”
Tiny’s hand stroked gently up and down my spine. “It’s real,” he assured me. “I’m real. And I’m not going anywhere.”
I pressed a kiss to his chest, right over his heart. “I believe you.”
And I did, that was the miracle. After years of broken promises and betrayals, I believed this man completely. I trusted him with my safety, with my daughters. With my heart. I’d sworn never to entrust it to anyone again after Andy, but I now wondered how I hadn’t seen through Andy from the very beginning. I was absolutely safe with Tiny. No question about it.
Outside the window, snow had begun to fall, large flakes drifting past in the darkness. Christmas was tomorrow, but I already felt like I’d received the greatest gift possible, a man who made me feel completely safe for the first time in my life and the promise of a future filled with the kind of love I thought existed only in fairy tales.
Tiny’s breathing had deepened, his body relaxing toward sleep. I snuggled closer, drawing the covers up over us both. Tomorrow would bring Christmas morning with the girls, presents under the tree, and all the chaos of a holiday with family. But for now, in the quiet darkness of the bedroom in the apartment across the hall from my girls, I was content to simply be held by the man who had changed everything.
“Merry Christmas, Tiny,” I whispered, pressing one more kiss to his chest.
His arms tightened around me briefly. “Merry Christmas, Penny,” he murmured, his voice thick with approaching sleep. “First of many.”
I closed my eyes, letting his heartbeat lull me toward dreams. First of many. The words settled in my chest, a promise I would hold onto, whatever challenges lay ahead. We’d face them together, this unexpected family of ours, built not from blood but from choice, from love, from the fierce determination to protect what was precious to us.
And nothing had ever felt more precious than this.