Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
She was quiet for a moment, her eyes studying him. She moved in closer, as though she couldn’t stand the distance between them. “I think I’m coming out of a dark time. I think the gloom is lifting a bit and I’m able to see things more clearly.”
“Gloom?”
“I didn’t really understand I’ve been mourning,” she said quietly. “The world has seemed incredibly heavy, and I’ve felt so alone. I numbed out my pain with work, but seeing you again was the jolt I needed. I still don’t know if you’re playing me or not, but I’m not playing you, and that’s all I can control right now.”
He dragged her into his arms. “I am not playing you. I’m crazy about you. I would use the word love if I thought it wasn’t going to scare you off, but I’m going to someday. I’m not going to change my mind, and you’re not going to find out this was part of a job. You are all that matters to me right now. I meant what I said. I’m going to support you. If you need to work this job for a couple of years, I’m still going to be waiting for you. I’ll figure it out. I’ll sneak in and out, or I’ll just fucking wait. Nothing matters as long as we’re together at the end. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that happens. Even if I have to fight the scary dude who is not your blood uncle but who looks like he’s willing to fight me like he’s your dad.”
He knew he sounded like an idiot, but he meant every single word. He was putting it all out there, and he wasn’t even sure he had the right to.
Julia would try to hurt anyone he cared about if she decided that was a way to make him do what she wanted.
“But you should know my sister…” he began.
She put a finger to his lips. “Your sister doesn’t matter. If you’re worried she’s going to try to screw with me the way she did with Kyle and his family, you should know I’ll kill her. I will take her out so she can’t hurt you anymore.”
It was stupid. He should explain to her that he would protect her. It was his job, what his father had charged him with from the time he was very young—protecting the country. Protecting his mother from the truth. Protecting his secrets.
Taylor was the first person he could remember who offered to protect him. It made him feel weird. Warm and taken care of.
“You will run the other way if you see her,” he said, his voice going thick with emotion. “You will protect yourself because you have to know that nothing is more important to me than you. Nothing. Not the op. Not the Agency. You. But I’m not going to push you away like Kyle did with his girl. I’m going to trust that you know what you want, that you know what you can risk.”
“This is a risk I want to take. You need to remember that even if things get bad,” she said. “Even if she’s coming at us, you have to remember that I wanted to be here. I wanted to be with you no matter what happens. We can get through it together.”
He gave in to the overwhelming desire to kiss her, wrapping his arms around her and losing himself in the way she tasted and felt and smelled. He wanted to surround himself with her. She was rapidly becoming the center of his world, crowding out what had been there before. His job. Always his job. But now he had to wonder why he’d been doing the damn job at all. He’d done it because he’d been trained to, because it had become the only home he had. He’d been set on a path and he hadn’t veered from it, hadn’t even thought to until he’d met her.
She broke the kiss, moving back. For a second he thought she was going to walk away entirely, and he realized it would break him if this had all been a bit of revenge on her part. It would be a good revenge—letting him bare his soul to her and then walking out to let him know she could never forgive him.
“Taylor,” he began.
Her lips curled up. “No. If I let you, you’ll have me on my back before I can take another breath, and I have something I want to do. We’re not on the dungeon floor. Tonight I’ll let you take me into The Garden and I’ll be your sweet sub, but now I’m going to do what I’ve been dreaming of.”
She slowly dropped to her knees, and his whole body went tense with anticipation as she tugged at the waistband of his sweats.