Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 155775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
“Trouble?”
“Yeah, trouble. With me.”
Holy heck. Why did her heart race at those words? Was he threatening to spank her?
No. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.
Why are you getting all flustered imagining him doing that?
Jesus, she had to stop doing this. She couldn’t let him see how much she wanted him.
Addie dropped her gaze before he could read anything on her face. Thank God it was still slightly dark out here.
“You still haven’t told me what’s going on,” he said to her. “Why are you out here, Addie? You shouldn’t have left the house without letting someone know.”
Addie hunched her shoulders. Yes, she knew she should have told someone what she was doing, but everyone was asleep and she hadn’t wanted to explain herself. And it wasn’t like she was really in danger. Those guys wouldn’t know where they were. It wasn’t like she’d gone wandering off.
“Was it a nightmare?” he asked. “About what happened?”
She nodded. She should have known that he would guess.
“About the man carrying the body?” he asked
No. Although it would make sense for her to have had a nightmare about that.
She didn’t really want to explain the nightmare. There was no point in mentioning the past. Not to someone she barely knew. The only people she’d ever really talked to about that day were her sisters.
She didn’t want to tell him about that incident. She didn’t want to seem even more pathetic in his eyes.
He already knew she wasn’t quite right.
“Addie, are you okay? You’ve gone all quiet, withdrawn.”
How was that any different from how she was any other day?
“I’m sorry you had a nightmare, and I wasn’t here.”
“It’s okay. You’re not my dad.”
She should have thought that through more before she’d said it.
Because a large part of her would like him to be her Daddy.
And that was simply impossible.
“You don’t owe me anything, Cash,” she told him. “And don’t feel like you have to be here if there are other things you need to do.”
He eyed her for a long moment. “Are you trying to dismiss me, baby?”
Dismiss him? When he put it like that, it sounded crazy. Cash Savage wasn’t a man who was easily dismissed. That was clear to see. And no woman in her right mind would do that.
Then again, no one was accusing Addie of being in her right mind, were they?
She snorted softly.
“What are you smiling about?” he asked.
“No one would dare to dismiss you,” she told him.
He made a scoffing noise. “You would be surprised. But you’re not going to dismiss me so easily. You crawled into my truck. That means you belong to me.”
Had he gone insane?
“No, I do not belong to you.”
“Hmm, well, your life is in my hands. I kept you safe, protected you, helped you find your sisters. You owe me.”
Shit.
She couldn’t even argue with that statement. She totally owed him.
“Breathe, Stowaway,” he told her. “I’m not going to ask for your life in payment, or for anything you don’t want to give.”
Then what was he going to ask for? Because this was all sounding rather ominous.
“What it means is that I am going to stick around, and I am going to keep you safe. So don’t try to run me off again, understand?”
“I wasn’t trying to run you off,” she told him. “I just thought you might have something better to do.”
“More important than looking after someone who belongs to me? No, I don’t.”
She felt a flutter in her heart but squelched it quickly. Because he didn’t mean it the way she wanted him to. She wasn’t his woman. She was more like a pet dog or a cat or a canary.
Yeah. She was the equivalent of Cash Savage’s canary. Protected, petted, looked after, but not lusted after, not desired.
It might not be what she wanted, but it was more than she’d ever hoped to have.
In another lifetime, with a different upbringing, she might have pursued Cash. Have chosen him as her Daddy.
But not this lifetime.
“Why do you look so sad? I take care of the things that belong to me.”
Hmm. That was enough of that. She narrowed her gaze at him as she typed on his phone.
“I do not belong to you.”
“I think I’ve already explained that you do. While you’re here, you to belong to me. And I’m going to take care of you. Get used to it.”
Get used to it? Could he hear himself right now?
“You’re an arrogant man, Cash Savage.”
He smirked at her. “I appreciate the compliment.”
Grr.
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
“Sure it was.” He bopped her on the nose. Again.
What was with all the nose bopping? The man was losing his mind!
He stood and held out his hand.
“This conversation isn’t over,” she told him.
“I should think not. We haven’t talked about the rules you’ll need to follow and the consequences that will occur if you break them.”