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)
She’s not yours.
“Hey, Addie, I got the things you needed.” He held up a bag. “And a few extra things. I hope you don’t mind.”
She blinked at him. “Mind?”
The urge to scold her for talking was right there on the tip of his tongue.
She’s not yours.
She doesn’t want your Daddy side taking care of her.
He just had to cement that in his brain.
“Yeah, I went back to LittleLand and got you some more panties. And a few other things.”
Her eyes grew wide as she took the bag from him. “You did that for me?”
God, her voice sounded painful. He nodded. “Yeah, for you.”
She acted like no one ever did kind things for her, or she couldn’t imagine him doing something kind for her, and that made him feel a bit angry.
He remembered what she’d said to him about how she’d been bullied when she was younger.
Cash hated that. He wanted to track down every one of those bastards and make sure they paid.
Hmm, that wasn’t a bad idea.
He just had to get her to give him all those names.
“This is amazing,” she told him in a voice that was barely there. “Thank you.”
He nodded stiffly and took a step back. “Let me know if you need anything else.” Cash forced himself to walk away, even though he felt the urge to turn back to go to her.
The nightmare came again.
It was the same as the last one. People surrounding her, jeering at her, taunting her, first the men at the airport.
Then those kids from years ago.
When she woke up, she saw it was only around midnight. She’d barely had any sleep at all. Sighing, she lay back down.
Go back to sleep.
But even though she tossed and turned and tried to get back to sleep, she simply couldn’t. It didn’t help that her stomach was clenching painfully with cramps.
Getting up, she grabbed the hoodie that Cash had bought her. It was the one she’d seen at LittleLand with the squishy bits in the cuffs. That she had regretted not buying.
It was a pale, buttery yellow that she really loved. He’d also bought her some soft, yellow, fluffy socks, a couple of face masks, some vanilla-scented bubble bath and a block of chocolate.
Everything a girl might need.
Grabbing Snaggles and using her hands to play with the squishies sewn into the hoodie, she made her way back outside and onto the same chair she’d sat in in the early hours of yesterday morning.
At least Cash wouldn’t be out running at this time of night, so there was no one to catch her out here.
It was chilly out, and she soon found herself shivering, so she drew her legs up against her chest. She swallowed with a wince. The cold air probably wasn’t doing anything good for her throat.
Dinner had been another quiet affair. She’d eaten the same soup from lunch and her tummy was now kind of grumbling.
“It’s cold out here.”
She startled at the sound of someone behind her and let out a gasp that quickly turned into a cough.
“Jesus, fuck, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you,” Cash said as he walked around her with a blanket, which he tucked over her. “I’ll go get you a drink. Wait here.”
Okay. She hadn’t really been planning on going anywhere, although maybe she should retreat into her bedroom. Because spending time with him was painful.
Was this what unrequited love felt like? Not that she loved him, but unrequited lust, desire, need?
She didn’t know. No matter what it was, it was painful.
When he returned, he held a bottle of water and a mug.
“It’s a hot honey drink,” he told her. “I read that it was good for your throat. It’s not too hot either, so it shouldn’t burn you. I checked the temperature first.”
Wow, that was really thoughtful of him.
“Wasn’t trying to overstep or anything. Just didn’t want to burn you.”
She sighed. She didn’t like seeing him like this. In fact, she kind of hated it. She preferred bossy, commanding, in her face all the time, Cash.
The question was, how did she make this better?
“What are you doing out here, Addie? You know you’re not supposed to come out here on your own.”
She nodded. She did know that. She took a sip of the honey drink. Oh, that was nice. “Just needed some cold air.”
Addie risked a glance up at him to find he was frowning as he stared out into the night.
“Another nightmare?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Same as last night?”
“Yeah.”
She took another sip of the hot honey drink. This was so awkward. Maybe she should just go back to bed, but she could feel the walls closing in on her. Which was weird, considering she spent most of her time in her bedroom back home.
Why was she feeling so claustrophobic now?
Cash was tense and he was tapping his foot against the floorboards of the porch. She wanted to ask him what was wrong.