Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
I pulled out a lemon-colored dress that would be stunning on Gypsi. I wasn’t sure she’d like the bow on one shoulder, but it would be breathtaking on her.
“You’d look incredible in that one at the derby,” Garrett said behind me. “When I chose it, I could picture you in it.”
In my head, I had assumed he’d had a stylist buy all these and stock this room. Maybe just did a quick appraisal and approval. I hadn’t actually thought he’d hand-picked them all himself. Knowing he’d chosen this dress with me in mind changed things. I turned back to him and walked over to hang the dress on the gold stand by the mirror. I’d find Gypsi something just as lovely, but I would be wearing this one.
His pleased smile made my stomach feel fluttery.
“I was thinking of it for Gypsi,” I admitted.
“She’s your twin. I imagine it would look nice on her too. But I’m glad you’re going to wear it for me,” he replied.
I paused. How did he know what Gypsi looked like? He’d not met her.
“When have you seen her?” I asked, feeling my spine stiffen in an immediate protective stance.
Garrett raised an eyebrow. “Fawn, I have her being followed, guarded at all times, just as I have with you. Do you think I’d expect my men to know what she looks like without knowing myself?”
Followed? All the time?! I’d thought he just had someone watching the camper at night. He’d not mentioned this. I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of men I didn’t know following my daughter. Especially with her knowing nothing of it. My chest felt tight, and I wanted to shout at him for the assumption that he could do such a thing. She was mine to protect. I hadn’t asked him to do this.
“I don’t recall you asking me if I was okay with that,” I snapped.
Garrett sighed and took his hat off, then ran his hand over his dark locks. “Fawn, I’m doing it for you. I don’t see the issue here.”
I pointed a finger at his chest, getting angrier by the minute. “The issue is that she is mine. That is an invasion of her privacy. Just because … because we are seeing each other doesn’t mean you have the right to put your men, employees, whatever on surveillance of her twenty-four/seven. I appreciate the night security, but that is it! She doesn’t need to be watched all the time. That’s … that’s controlling, and I don’t like it.”
Garrett grabbed my wrist and pulled my finger from his chest, where I’d jammed it a few times in my tirade. His fingers bit into my skin, and I tensed as the sinister glare in his eyes held me. There was a line with Garrett. One that no one else ever dared to get close to. I seemed to not only get close, but also jump right on over it regularly. He wasn’t going to intimidate me, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to control me or my daughter.
“Careful, pretty baby,” he scolded.
I glowered up at him. I wasn’t backing down just because he got all villainous-looking.
“If you want a woman who will cower when you snap your fingers or squeeze her wrist, then we need to end this now. I am not her!”
A crooked grin curled his lips. “Is that so?” he drawled.
I tried to wrench my hand from his grip, but he held it firmly.
“YES!” I shouted.
He jerked me forward until I was plastered against the front of him. I didn’t show any fear even if there was a stirring of it in my chest, along with something I didn’t want to admit to. Admitting would make me as depraved as he was.
He tossed his hat onto the pink sofa thing and then grabbed my hair in his fist, tugging my head back further. His eyes slowly drifted over my face while I stood there, breathing hard, giving away the fact that he was getting to me. He knew it too, judging by the way his nostrils flared as he inhaled and his jaw tensed.
“I don’t allow anyone to speak to me the way you just did,” he said in a low, deep voice that made me shiver. It was as if the Devil himself had spoken. Cold, hard, and terrifying.
I would not bow down to this man. I was a mom, dammit, and I had Gypsi to think about.
“And I don’t allow anyone to stalk my daughter the way you’ve been doing,” I blurted.
That evil grin touched his lips again. “That’s a reach, pretty baby. Stalking and protecting are not the same.”
I tried to ease the tight hold he had on my hair, but he just pulled harder, making me gasp.
“Tsk-tsk, naughty girl. Don’t make me hurt you.”
I swallowed hard, hating my traitorous body for reacting to that.