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’m just processing,” I explained.
He brushed back some of my hair from my forehead. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
I let out a shaky laugh. “A million things at once.”
The corner of his mouth tugged up into a crooked grin. “Share some of those with me. Please. I need to know where your head is right now.”
I took a deep breath. “The main thing that I am struggling with is the fact that you are always in danger. That’s hard for me to accept. I don’t like it.”
His expression turned serious. “You and Gypsi are safe. I swear to you, I’ll keep you both protected.”
I smiled. “Thank you, but that is not what I meant. I know you are making sure we are safe. I am talking about you. YOU are always in danger. Your life. I can’t—” I winced at the idea of something happening to him. It literally felt like a knife slicing my chest. “I hate thinking that something could happen to you.”
Garrett’s thumb, which had been lightly brushing my cheek, stilled. His eyes narrowed. “Your main concern is my safety?” he asked incredulously. “I just told you I am the leader of an organized crime family, and that’s what is upsetting you?”
I swallowed hard against the sudden lump that had formed in my throat. “Yes.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, then pulled me to his chest, holding me there as he wrapped his arms around me.
The sound of his heart pounding in his chest was against my ear. It was beating fast.
“I wanted to own you,” he said against my hair. “Collect you because I enjoy owning beautiful things. Yet you’ve managed to own me.”
Tears stung my eyes as I fisted my hand in the T-shirt he was wearing. Maybe we owned each other. Because this man had marked a claim on my heart. There was no use in pretending like he hadn’t. I loved him.
After all these years, my heart had finally been touched by someone other than my daughter. I was in love with Garrett Hughes, and I knew that I couldn’t walk away from him. If and when he tired of me, my heart would be beyond repair.
Thirty-Three
Garrett
Leaving Gypsi with Trev and his friends concerned me, but Saxon had informed me he would be there. Now that we were back in Ocala, I wasn’t ready to let Fawn return to that fucking camper. Finding a way to keep her with me was all I could think about.
Tonight, Fawn had given in to staying the night after Gypsi agreed to stay too. Knowing Fawn was going to sleep in my bed with me tonight for the first time had me so damn happy that I didn’t recognize myself.
Fawn slid into the limo, and I admired her legs as she did so. Dinner had been exceptional, but not because of the food. Fawn’s laughter, funny stories about her past—raising Gypsi, the many times she’d swindled men over a game of pool or cards—and her questions that she asked me, made this night unique. She was interested in things no one else ever had seemed to care about.
Talking about my childhood, losing Etta, bad marriage decisions was easy with those golden eyes soaking up everything I said, as if it mattered. She wanted to know. It was clear on her face that my life was important to her. I was important to her. There were no hints at things I could give her or requests for extravagant trips.
I sat down beside Fawn, and Levi closed the door behind me before going back to the driver’s seat. Placing my hand on Fawn’s thigh, I slid up the rest of her dress until the black satin crotch of her panties was visible. Her chest began to rise and fall quicker as her breathing picked up.
“Open your legs,” I told her.
She did, and I inhaled deeply, hoping to smell her arousal. The dark material of her panties hid the dampness, but I felt it the moment my fingertips brushed over them.
“Take them off,” I demanded, loving the way she trembled when I took on an authoritative tone.
With only a sassy curl to her lips, she lifted her ass off the seat and obeyed like a good girl. The black satin thong hung from her finger as she held it out to me. “Are you wanting a souvenir?”
Damn, that mouth.
I snatched the panties from her and stuck them in my pocket. “What I want, pretty baby, is for you to straddle my lap and ride me,” I informed her while unbuttoning my pants.
Her gaze dropped to my crotch, and she licked her plump pink lips as she watched me free my cock. I stroked it while she took in the length and width of my hard dick. It was tempting to take her head and slam it down, forcing her to take me inside that sweet mouth.