Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
She scowled at my thievery. “No. My Aunt Jessica has taught me a few things. In fact, she’ll be back next week, after my dad leaves, to train me.”
“Train you?” I failed at hiding the amusement in my tone. “Is your aunt close to your dad’s age?”
Livy nodded. “Really close. They’re twins.”
“Is she a martial arts instructor or something?”
“No. She’s an actuary.”
“An actuary? For the mafia or something?”
She chuckled. “No. But she was … attacked many years ago and learned to defend herself. She’s a total badass.”
I took another slice of pizza, and she grabbed my wrist, like I did to her, and took the first bite, grinning at the same time.
“So are you going to show me your moves?” I asked.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m not too concerned.”
“It’s not like I’m ready to snap anyone’s neck or anything like that. Jess said that’s a ways down the road. I need to work on my strength before I can do that.”
I released something between a cough and a laugh. “Wow … she’s going to teach you to snap someone’s neck? That’s … interesting.” I stepped back. “Hop down. Show me your moves.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know that she’s not giving you false confidence.”
On an eye roll, she hopped off the counter. “Okay. Attack me.”
I grinned. Slowly and gently, I grabbed her arm to jerk her toward me. In a flash I ended up with a bloodied nose. She didn’t break it, but fuck … it stung a bit as my eyes watered. I wasn’t expecting it. In fact, I went out of my way to not hurt her.
“Oh shit! I’m sorry. I … I didn’t know how to show you without actually doing that to you. Wylder … I’m so sorry.” She grabbed the towel from the counter and ran to the freezer to get ice.
I pushed her hand away when she tried to blot the blood and hand me the ice. “I’m fine.” Taking the towel from her, I dumped the ice into the sink and blotted my nose. It wasn’t a lot of blood, but I couldn’t hide my shock that she drew blood. And really fucking quickly. If I were fighting a bear, I’d come prepared for a bear. This was like going to pet a kitten and a goddamn mountain lion appeared out of nowhere.
“Wylder …” Her nose scrunched.
I held the towel to my left nostril. “Good girl.”
Her concern slowly morphed into a tiny smile. “Yeah?”
I nodded, tossing the towel aside, no longer feeling blood trickling out of my nose. “An actuary, huh?”
“Yes.” She lifted onto her toes and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Forgive me? Can I kiss it? Lick your wound?”
My hands slid around her back, finding their favorite place on her ass. “You can lick something, but it’s not my nose.”
White teeth peeked out from her red lips as she ran her tongue along the bottom one in anticipation of my mouth on hers. “I have a curfew. If you need something licked, we’d better get to it.”
“A curfew?” I lifted her like a monkey hugging my body and headed toward the stairs.
“Yeah. Dad said since we’re sharing a hotel room he expects a little courtesy.”
“What time?” I bit her lower lip and sucked it into my mouth as we reached the top of the stairs.
“Ten.”
Depositing her on my bed, I grabbed her wrist and read the time on her watch. “It’s eight thirty.” Her nose wrinkled like it did whenever she assumed I was upset.
“Sorry. It’s my life for the week. He retrieved my schoolwork from that mystical cloud. I owe him ten o’clock.”
“Fine.” I unbuttoned my pants.
“Will you tie me to your bed?” She shrugged off her shirt.
I paused my hands, certain I didn’t hear her correctly.
She shimmied out of her shorts and panties then reached around to unhook her bra. “Jessica said that after her incident she had some serious issues with being restrained, and it fed her need for control, which ended up making her emotionally fucked-up. So … she said if I’m ever in a healthy, trusting sexual relationship, it might be a good idea to practice staying calm while being restrained.” Walking on her knees to the edge of the bed, she pushed my shirt up, kissing my chest while I pulled it the rest of the way off with a bit of hesitation.
“Yeah …” My hands pressed to her cheeks, forcing her to look up at me before they disappeared into her hair. “If you find a healthy, trusting sexual relationship … you should definitely practice staying calm while being restrained.”
“Wylder …” Her fingers eased down my abs, one bump at a time.
“I’m not him, Livy.”
Her gaze dropped as she deflated.
“I’ll tie you up, but you shouldn’t trust me in that way.”
“Why?” she whispered as the weight of her disappointment kept her chin tipped toward her chest—along with me … the anchor that threatened to pull her to the bottom of the ocean.