Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“When will you be back at the club?” Liam asked.
“I’m not sure, probably sometime next week.”
“Will I see you again before then?”
I grinned. “You really miss me that much?”
He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I’ve missed you a lot.”
“I’m not sure when I can return, but if it was up to me, I’d be there to see you every night, every day, every minute.”
His laugh made my pulse speed up. Damn, I was so far gone for him. “You really are obsessed, aren’t you?”
“Is it obsession if the object of my obsession belongs to me?”
“Yes, if you can’t stop thinking about him. About me.”
“I can’t.”
“What are we going to do Val? This…”—he waved his hand back-and-forth between us—“whatever it is can’t work. And I don’t even understand why you’re interested in—”
I laid a finger over his lips. “Don’t you dare put yourself down. You’re beautiful, you’re caring, and you stand up for yourself even when the odds are against you. Who wouldn’t want you?”
“That’s…I don’t know what to say, but this isn’t realistic. What about your family? You said—”
“Don’t think about what I said. Don’t think about any of it. Just give me a chance to figure this out.”
“Once I’ve paid your family back, I should just leave Boston. Leave all the memories behind. Once Ava finishes school maybe she could join me wherever I ended up.”
I took hold of his shoulders and turned him to face me. “You’re not going anywhere.” His breath caught, but I saw desire in his eyes rather than fear. “I will fight for you even if you’re the one I’m fighting.”
“Why? And why did you stay away for so long?”
“Baby, did you think I didn’t want you?” I rubbed my thumb back and forth over the inside of his wrist, feeling the fluttering pulse there.
“No. Yes. I don’t know. I knew you wouldn’t have Vito watching me so closely if you’d just forgotten about me, but why would I think you would want only me?”
“Because I’m captivated by you, and because…” I still wasn’t ready to say more. I had assumed I would spend my life alone. I had my brother to think of and the family. If I did end up with anyone, I’d thought it would be someone the family ordered me to marry. I doubted they’d shy away from using me to gain an alliance, so I tried to distance myself from anyone I hooked up with. But with Liam, I couldn’t do that.
“Because why?” he asked.
“Because you’re special.”
“I…” I narrowed my eyes, warning him not to contradict me. “I wish you could come back to Pound and be there every night.”
I wanted to tell him I’d be there tomorrow, no matter what my father said. But that wasn’t really what I wanted. I wanted to take him home, to cancel his debt so he never had to dance at the club again. He was an amazing dancer, but I wanted him to do it just for me.
I couldn’t just indulge myself and damn the consequences though. Something wasn’t right. The persistence of Liam’s stalker and the odd details of his parents’ accident had my instincts screaming. The were telling me there was trouble, big trouble. So far, I hadn’t figured out what was going on, but I had to follow my gut and find out what was happening. I considered talking to my father, but that was the last thing I wanted to do, because I was going to have to admit why I was interested in Liam, and I was going to tangle the family up in it.
Dom would hate that.
I needed a little bit more time. I didn’t want to let Liam return to the storage unit, but I knew he was well guarded there. I could send him to a safe house. It would take a little while for my father to notice if the assignment didn’t directly affect his business, but I didn’t want Liam that far away from me. I wanted him where I could get to him anytime.
“What’s wrong?” Liam asked.
“You won’t take my offer of an apartment.” That had bothered me, so it was close enough to the truth.
“Are you going to try to make me again?”
I gave him a slow once over and smiled. “Do you think I couldn’t?”
He shook his head. “I’m very certain you could, but I need some freedom.”
He deserved that. He’d essentially been his own prisoner since his parents died. He hadn’t done anything for himself. I wanted to give him the world, but I also knew that if I pushed too hard, I could fuck this whole thing up.
It was fucked up enough already.
Our food came, and I encouraged Liam to focus on eating. I must’ve been hungrier than I realized, because I polished off my omelet quickly. I was sipping my third—fourth?—cup of coffee when something out the window caught my eye.