Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
I clung to him, needing comfort, but needing to comfort him as well. “You wouldn’t have killed her. She didn’t hurt me.”
“Yes, Emmanuell,” he said emphatically. “I would have strangled the fuckin’ life out of her and not batted an eyelash.” I opened my mouth to deny his words, but he continued. “And before you say she didn’t hurt you, I saw your face. She did hurt you. Maybe not physically, though she shoved you back against the wall, and if I find even one bruise on your delicate flesh, I may find the bitch and finish what I started, but she hurt you. What did she say?” Ducking my head, I tried to turn away, but Gideon wouldn’t let me. “Come on, Emmanuell. Just tell me. Don’t turn away from me this time.” His words were nearly a whisper, but a command. A plea?
“It’s nothing I wasn’t already telling myself, Gideon.” I laid my hands on his chest, feeling the muscles bunch with tension. I looked up at him, needing to see into his eyes. A look of such complete need and possessiveness nearly took my breath. “Why do you want me?” I hated the way I sounded. Whimpering. Scared. Broken. “In all the time I’ve been trying to survive on my own, trying to prepare myself mentally for everything about to happen to me, I’ve never let myself sulk.”
“I’d think you deserve to sulk if you want to.”
“No. It’s pointless and did nothing but hurt the people who took me in. And I hurt you.”
“Honey, you’ve known me a fuckin’ day. That can’t negate the months of shit you went through. We’ve got time. I’ll prove to you how much I want to be in your life. If I can’t convince you, then I don’t deserve you.”
Heaving in a breath, I took in his scent. It was soothing, like a gentle caress. I’d never paid much attention to how a man smelled. Well, unless he smelled bad. But Gideon had a wildness about him that called to me. A curious combination of pine, wood, and motor oil. It was oddly comforting. Probably because I wanted him so much. Not just sexually either. The attention he’d shown me over the last twenty-four hours had been catnip to a girl like me.
“Let’s talk for a bit,” I said, reluctantly pulling away from him, but snagging his hand and leading him to the couch. He came willingly, moving ahead of me to sit in the middle of the couch. I grinned. There was a stubborn set to his jaw as he looked up at me. With a grin, I started to sit beside him, but he just pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me. I sighed contentedly, pulling my knees up and curling against his chest.
“Guess we should have done more of this before, huh?” He rested his chin on my head.
“Talking? Yeah. Probably.”
“So, tell me what’s on your mind.”
I sighed. “I don’t really believe all that stuff, Gideon. That you’re only with me for my money. I don’t even believe the stuff Rivet and the other woman were spouting.”
“But you panicked.” He didn’t sound mad or put out. Just the opposite. He sounded like he finally understood what was going on in my head.
“Yeah. When I realized I was putting myself in the exact same position I had before, I guess I lost my mind a little bit. But you’re nothing like Devan, Gideon. I know I just met you, but I was blind not to see it before.” Looking at my hands, I took a shuddering breath. “OK, that’s not exactly accurate. I did see it before. From the very first encounter with you, you and Devan were nothing alike. When I panicked after we’d had sex, I just…”
“You were trying to protect yourself,” he finished for me.
“Yeah. But I hurt you in the process.”
“Baby, I get it. And I understand. You’re right to be careful.”
“I can’t stop living because I got hurt, Gideon. I can’t give up on good people because one person was an asshole.”
Gideon took my face in his hands, leaning in to kiss my lips gently. “We’ll slow down, Emmanuell. We’ve got six weeks before the babies are born, and there’s a shit-ton of stuff to do before then. Starting with the doctor’s appointment Doc made for you with the high-risk pregnancy specialist. Let’s concentrate on that. In the process, maybe we’ll get to know each other better.”
I smiled, a tear escaping to trickle down my cheek, and Gideon leaned in to catch it with his lips. “I think that sounds just about perfect.”
Chapter Seven
Ripper
Six Weeks Later
If there was a hell, I was in it. Doctor’s appointments. Baby showers -- yes, there was more than one. Ribbing from my brothers about losing my man card. How was this even my life? Yet, as I gazed down at Emmanuell where she lay on the exam table at her latest appointment, I couldn’t find it in myself to hate anything going on. The only dark spot in the whole turn of events was Beaner. He wasn’t talking and tracking anything back to Randall Goldstein was proving difficult in the extreme.