Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 149338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
“You’re safe here for the time being,” I answered her question the best I could. “Nikolai wasn’t who you thought he was. You can’t go home because his men will kill you. They’re already out there looking for you, as we speak. Your fucking screaming didn’t help the situation. I barely got us out of there fast enough and unharmed.”
“What about you?” She gave me a questioning stare.
“What about me?”
“Are you in danger, too?”
“Cariño, I’m always in fucking danger. Everyone wants me dead.”
“Because of me?”
“Because of everything.”
She grimaced. It hurt her to hear the truth coming out of my mouth. Not granting her the peace she so urgently yearned for. She felt bad for me, and I would be lying if I said it didn’t faze me. Someone caring about my well-being. It had been an even longer time since anyone gave a shit if I was dead or alive.
“Did you know Nikolai?” she flat out asked.
“I suggest the next time you get a boyfriend—”
“He wasn’t my boyfriend,” she interrupted. “I barely knew him. I’ve never… I’ve never had a boyfriend.”
I blew off her reply, refusing to let it sink in. Knowing exactly why she felt the need to share that with me. I stood abruptly instead, not paying her any mind. Walking toward the bed, shocking the shit out of her. With wide eyes and parted lips, her chest rose and fell with every step I took, bringing me closer to her. Anxiously waiting for what I was going to do next.
I nodded toward the bottle of pills on the nightstand, breaking her train of thought before hovering above her. Her eyes followed my lead, quickly making their way back up to me.
I couldn’t help but notice how tiny and vulnerable she looked. How exposed she was to me in that second. Making my cock twitch at the sight of her.
She slowly licked her lips, trying to govern her unsteady breathing. Hoping I didn’t realize how much she wanted me to touch her, hold her, comfort her.
“So… I’m safe here. With you?” she coaxed the same goddamn question in a different way.
I stepped back, and she immediately hated the loss of my dominance over her. I nodded toward the pills again, rasping, “Don’t take more than two of those, unless you want to be in a fucking coma. If you need anything, pick up the house phone and dial zero, the maid will bring you whatever you need.”
Her breathing hitched as I reached for the switch on the lamp, thinking I was going for her. I shut off the light, instantly feeling her disappointment that our time was over.
“Get some rest, Lexi. You’re going to need it.” I turned, making my way out of her room.
“You don’t have to answer my question,” she whispered loud enough for me to hear, stopping me dead in my tracks. “You saved my life. That’s enough proof for me to know it.”
Her response rendered me useless. My feet glued to the goddamn floor beneath me, my mind yelling to go back to her while struggling with my own demons until finally I said, “De más formas de las que tu nunca sabras, cariño,” murmuring, “In more ways than you’ll ever know, cariño.”
And I left.
Motherfucker.
This was not supposed to happen. She was not supposed to be in my home, in one of my guestrooms. Laying in one of my goddamn beds, like we were playing fucking roommates. I couldn’t get away from the clusterfuck of a room fast enough.
This was bad.
The blaze in her eyes.
The feel of her skin.
The smell of her scent all around me.
I. Was. Fucked.
But it didn’t matter. I was already going straight to fucking Hell. I just didn’t want to drag her into the inferno with me.
I hauled ass into my limo, telling the driver to take me to the nearest bar. Tugging my hair away from my face, wanting to rip it the fuck out the entire ride to the shitty hole. The drive seemed to last fucking forever.
“Stay,” I ordered to my bodyguard like a fucking dog, stepping out of the limo.
“Boss—” I shut the door in his face.
I wasn’t my fucking father. I never rolled with more than one bodyguard, unless I had to. Often, I would go places by myself, not giving a fuck if I was protected or not. Leo always said I was asking for a bullet in my head. I had a death wish that would become my reality one day.
Maybe I did.
So fucking tired of being the goddamn Grim Reaper.
“Bourbon,” I ordered from the bartender with her tits on full display. Taking a seat on the stool farthest from the other customers. “Keep ‘em coming.”
“That’s what she said,” she giggled, thinking she was so fucking clever.
Bringing my attention to her, I glared up.