Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 105231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“Hmm. I figure an hour or two.”
“Travis!”
“What? You need longer? You really are scared of this guy, aren’t you?”
“It’s probably stupid. At the moment, I feel like he is far away and I’m safe. That as long as I don’t go looking into him, he will leave me alone. It feels like a precarious tightrope that I’m walking and I don’t want to fall off.”
“And telling me will push you off?”
“It could,” she whispered.
“I promise I will never let you fall.”
Yeah. He knew just what to say.
Damn him.
“You’re forgetting that I was a Marine, baby. I saw some things that haunt me sometimes. It changed me. It made me into the man I am now. I know that I can be possessive and overprotective. But I know the dangers out there. I know how cruel this world can be. And I also know that when you have someone of your own, you protect them from all of that. Which is what I will do for you.”
“You saw some terrible things? Do you have nightmares?”
“I used to,” he admitted. “For years after I left. I couldn’t stay in the Marines, it wasn’t healthy. But I still had this need to keep people safe, which is why I started Raptor Inc. I have the necessary skills to keep you safe. And I will keep you safe.”
She let those words sink in. She knew that Travis was strong and skilled. But she still couldn’t shake that feeling that Aadan would destroy him.
“Can I . . . can I just think it through for a while? I mean, longer than an hour.”
“Twenty-four hours?”
“Yeah. Maybe. Are you upset at me?”
“Do I wish you would trust me with this? Yes. Do I also realize that we haven’t been together that long? Also, yes.”
“Hmm, yes, I believe we’ve been in a relationship for all of an hour,” she teased.
“Well, twelve hours if you take last night into account. And I do. I also think that you owe me for being so patient.”
“I owe you?” she squealed.
“Yeah. You owe me.” He moved them so she was lying on her back on the sofa and he was between her open legs. “You’re sitting there in just a bra, tempting me to touch you, taste you.”
“You’re the one who stripped my clothes off!”
“I know. I’m a smart guy.”
“And so modest, too,” she said dryly.
“What’s the point in being modest? Sounds boring,” he said as he slid his hands beneath her so he could undo her bra. Then he drew it off so she was lying there in just a pair of pants and nothing else.
“Fuck, Goldie. You are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“Really?” she whispered.
“Yes. Really. I never say anything I don’t mean.” He slid further down and almost fell right off the sofa. “Fuck. This sofa is too small. Gonna do myself an injury.” Standing, he picked her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. “Need room so I can explore you properly.”
Yeah, she wasn’t going to protest.
He laid her out on the bed on her back, peering down at her hungrily. Then he reached for her pants, drawing them and her panties down her legs. Throwing them aside, he stood at the end of the bed and stared down at her.
“Can’t believe that someone as beautiful as you is fucking mine.”
He had it all wrong. She was the one that should be grateful to belong to someone as sexy and hot as he was.
But before she could tell him that, he was speaking again. “Spread your legs.”
Her breath caught at the demand in his voice. It washed through her, sweeping away her thoughts. A sense of calm started to fill her.
And all he’d done was order her to spread her legs?
Bloody hell.
She could be in real trouble here.
“Do you need a spanking, baby?” he asked quietly. “Because you don’t have to be naughty in order to get one. All you have to do is ask.”
“Sometimes that can be hard to do.”
He leaned over her, his hands on the bed as he stared down at her intently. “Then play up, baby. It will still get you that spanking. But it might also get you other punishment. What was it that you said about orgasm denial . . .?”
“You wouldn’t!” she cried with a gasp.
He just smiled.
She took back every nice thought she’d had about him. He was terrible.
“It’s all right, baby. I’ll give you what you need. Always.” He started kissing down her body, taking one nipple into his mouth to suck on it strongly.
“Do you . . . what do you want me to call you? We didn’t talk about what you want from . . . from this . . . from us,” she said, barely able to speak as he moved his mouth to her other nipple.