Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“I’ll do it again much harder.”
She decided to ignore the threat, mostly because it sounded intriguing to her. “You can’t possibly read my thoughts.”
“I told you, you don’t have a poker face. More, you were staring at me and rubbing your hand along your thigh with a scowl on your face. You don’t like the way you look. It doesn’t matter that I tell you you’re the most beautiful woman in the world to me, that I love every inch of you, you don’t believe me.”
“I wasn’t thinking that at all,” she lied. She tried a mock glare, hoping to make him laugh, but it didn’t work.
He stepped even closer to her, his hands framing her face, his thumb sliding over her lips. The caress burned. That burn spread through her body, turning her veins to hot molasses. “Look at me.”
Her heart beat hard. She knew if she looked into his eyes she’d be lost there. She always was. There was something so beautiful and deadly about the turbulent sea there in the depths of all that crystalline blue. He waited. She took a breath and lifted her lashes. His gaze burned into hers. Burned right through her until she felt him taking a piece of her heart. She’d known it would happen sooner or later, but how could it right there? Right then? It was the way he looked at her, that mixture of affection and exasperation, that sent her heartbeat skipping.
“I don’t know who made you feel as if you aren’t perfect, but whoever he was, he doesn’t have a fuckin’ brain in his head. You understand me, Sonia? You take my breath away. Our leopards may have found each other first, but had I laid eyes on you in the street before that night, I would have been coming after you. Nothing, no one, would have stopped me from pursuing you. That’s the truth.”
Just like that he had a second piece of her heart. He was stealing it away, and there didn’t seem to be much she could do about it.
“You get me, baby? You get what I’m saying to you? I know every man in my employ thinks you’re beautiful. They talk, and I listen. You walked into that house and they were pissed you weren’t theirs. They’re out there now, watching over us. Making sure we’re safe. They’re good men and they deserve the best. But I have you and I’m keeping you.”
She didn’t know what to say. He meant every word. She knew he did. It was there in his tone, in his set features and most of all, in his eyes. She nodded, because what else could she do? He made her feel beautiful and worth something. Not a woman one fucked and threw away. Not one to blow up in a car because you were through with her.
“You don’t know me, Joshua.” She whispered it, trying desperately to keep their relationship to sex.
“I know that you’re trying to protect me from some danger you have chasing you, Sonia. I know you help out Jerry when you don’t need to. Everyone knows you’ve got talent, and you’ve got that reputation. I know you’re kind and caring and talented beyond anything I’ve seen both with your work and your art. I love the way you laugh. The way you put your hand in my hair just to let me know you’re with me. I could go on and on but…” He took her hand and led her to the tub. “You need to get into the water, baby. Turn around.”
She did, wondering what he was up to.
Immediately his hands were in her hair, dividing it into three sections and braiding it swiftly, so quickly she knew he was skilled.
“Where did you learn to do that?” She kept all expression from her voice, and it was easier to ask him with her back to him. “You’re good at it.”
“I can do fancy braids as well,” he bragged, amusement and something that was suspiciously like sorrow in his voice. “My mom, Elaina, had long hair. She loved it, and even when she got sick, she didn’t want to cut it. So I learned how to take care of it for her.”
He could break hearts. That was all there was to it. She didn’t turn around, but went to the drawers where she kept her hair ties and secured the end of her braid. Pinning it on top of her head, she turned back to him. “How old were you?”
“I had her until I was sixteen. We were living in Borneo, in the rain forest. Drake was already running a crew to get back kidnap victims. It was becoming a way of life for some to kidnap tourists and extort money. I joined him then.”
Sonia sank down into the hot, steaming water and scooted to the end of the tub to make room for him. He fascinated her. She watched him climb into the deep tub with ease, as if he’d been sharing the bath with her for years. He stretched out and then took her ankles and pulled until her feet were in his lap. His hands began a slow massage under the water.