Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
“Pretty sure I’ve loved you from the moment you found me hiding in cupboard at your house,” she told him. “And I said Peek-a-Boo and you didn’t laugh at me like I was a complete idiot.”
“I’ll admit, it was hard,” he said solemnly.
“Slade!” she chided, but she was smiling, glad the awkward moment was over.
“I think I fell in love with you that day too.”
She sucked in a breath. “You did?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Slade,” she said, moving toward him.
Slade held up his hand. “Stop! Don’t come any closer.”
What? Why?
Did he not want her out here with him?
Ouch.
“Where are your shoes?” he asked. “Why are you out here in just a robe?”
He pressed the cigar against a tray on the table next to him and strode over to her.
Before she realized what he was up to, she was in his arms, pressed against his chest.
“Oh,” she cried.
“You shouldn’t be walking around in the cold and dark in bare feet and a robe. Or breathing in cigar smoke. Definitely need to kick that habit. You do not need to be breathing in secondhand smoke.”
“Is that why you told me not to come any closer?” she asked. “Because you didn’t want me breathing in the smoke?”
“Yeah. Why? Why do you think I said it?”
“I don’t know. I thought maybe you didn’t want my company.”
“Boo, I always want your company. I miss you when you’re not around. God, I’ve missed you these past few months.”
Her too.
He started walking toward the door.
“Wait! Stop,” she cried.
He froze. “What is it?”
“I just . . . I don’t want to go inside just yet. Can we stay out for a bit?”
“Did something happen? Did you have a nightmare?”
“I’m not sure. I just woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.”
“Poor Little one,” he crooned. “We can sit out here for a while.”
Little one? That was a new nickname. But she wasn’t protesting.
“You don’t have to stay with me,” she told him.
“Ahh, yes, I do. Who is going to make sure that you don’t freeze to death? Remember that time you snuck out of the house to sit on the roof and then you couldn’t get back in your bedroom window?”
Oh God. Yes, she remembered that.
“I had to knock on your window to wake you up so you would let me back in,” she murmured. “And you scolded me and told me I was grounded.”
Slade snorted. “Should have put you over my knee. What if I hadn’t been home? What would you have done?”
Urgh.
“I guess I would have had to wake up Mum and Edward. That would have gone down well.”
He placed her on a lounger and then moved over to a basket, pulling out some blankets.
“Have you heard from her?” he asked.
“My mum?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“No. I don’t expect I will unless she wants something from me.”
“Bitch,” he muttered as he placed the blankets over her until she was nice and cozy. To her surprise, he hopped under the blankets with her and drew her against him so she was lying on her side with her head pressed to his chest.
“I’ve missed you all so much.”
Shit. She wasn’t doing a good job of keeping her heart safe from them. She should have known that the more time she spent with them, the harder it would become to keep her feelings from getting involved.
First, she’d kissed Spencer.
Now, she’d told Slade that she loved him. Although she knew that the love he felt for her was different.
She let out a quiet sigh. The fairy lights around the pool twinkled and she stared at them in fascination.
“I love fairy lights.”
“I remember. You decorated your room in them. Don’t know how you slept at night with all those lights on.”
“You told me off for plugging too many in. You said I was going to cause a fire.”
“You were,” he said dryly. “Remember that big storm that happened a few months after you moved in?”
“We lost power. I was so scared of the dark and the noise that I hid in the closet.”
She did that a lot.
“I ran into your room and found you scared out of your mind. I thought your mother might have checked on you.”
She snorted. Yeah, right.
“You scooped me up and took me to your room,” she said quietly. “And then you dug out some battery-powered lamps and we set up a camp-out in your wardrobe with snacks and ghost stories.”
That was one of her happiest memories. Which was weird considering she hated storms.
“You were mine to take care of from the moment I first found you in that cupboard. I just . . . forgot that for a while.”
“You’ve got to let that go,” she whispered. “I have. It’s not good to hold onto things.”
“I’ll let it go once you trust us again.”
Shoot. She didn’t know how long that would take, but she was starting to trust them more with each passing day. She shifted around and let out a small groan. This was a really comfortable, sturdy chair but her body was still feeling the effects of the beating.