Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 112736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Yes, I’ve had five years to be alone. Five years of raising our son by myself, thinking his father was dead. Five years of fucking up and making mistakes.
And less than an hour to feel sorry for myself. To mourn what could have been, had I only known…
Bending over, Coy quickly unties his boots and kicks them off before unbuckling his belt and dropping his pants.
The sight of him standing completely naked, all hard muscles covered in black ink, affects me in a way that’s only more upsetting.
Fresh anger pumps through my veins as I involuntarily experience a little pang of desire, of all things.
There’s absolutely no logical or sane reason for feeling it. Absolutely none. Especially when I’m pissed at him.
I’m not the kind of girl who can get turned on just by seeing a set of rock-hard defined abs.
Hell, Mikhail is almost as muscular as Coy, and when he dropped his pants all I usually felt was dread.
And yet it’s there, a slight throbbing ache right between my thighs. Right in that place that’s still sore after what he did to me last night.
Coy walks up to the tub and once I figure out what he plans to do, I let go of my knees and start to get to my feet, ready to bolt.
Only to be shoved back down by a heavy hand on my shoulder.
The water rocks and splashes over the edge, but Coy doesn’t seem to give a shit as he climbs in.
“What the hell are you doing?!” I ask as he squeezes into the tub behind me and wraps his arms around me.
Yanking me back into his chest, my naked ass bumps against his cock.
My mind blanks.
Thank god, it’s soft, is all I can think for a moment.
Then he growls, “Holding you,” into my ear.
A little unwanted tingle slithers down my spine at the touch of his warm breath.
A little tingle that reminds me I need to keep distance between us.
“Why, goddammit?!” I nearly screech as I squirm and try to escape him. “I don’t want you to hold me! I want you to go away!”
Because, god help me, every time he touches me, he makes me feel things I shouldn’t be feeling.
I can’t remember him, I can’t. I’ve tried and tried. Even replaying what Poster Boy said hasn’t triggered any deeply buried memories. That one flash of his face when I looked at Levi must have been a fluke because I can’t find Coy anywhere else in my brain.
Yet, when he touches me… there’s… something. Not memories… not the kind you can see, hear, or taste, but something that’s so intense and intangible at the same time it scares the hell out of me.
“That’s too fucking bad,” he grunts as my elbow gets him in the ribs.
He releases me for a second, only long enough to reposition his arms around my arms, then he squeezes me until I stop moving. “Because you fucking need it and you’re gonna fucking accept it.”
Nearly choking on the sob crawling out of my throat, I bend forward and shake my head back and forth. “I don’t need it. I don’t need you!”
I need space. Some part of me he can’t invade. I need to figure out some way to come out on the other side of this mess in one piece without him completely destroying me.
“The fuck you don’t,” he says harshly and uses his arms to pull me back until my spine is against his chest. “You need it. You need me, Allie. Deny it all you want, but it’s the fucking truth. You’re my woman, goddammit, and I’m going to take care of you.”
I continue to shake my head back and forth.
I’m not his woman and I don’t want him to take care of me.
That woman he loved, the one he wants me to be, died in that accident. She’s gone.
I can’t find her anywhere and I don’t think she’s coming back.
And me… I just want to be free.
“I know you’re going through some shit in your head. I know that you’re fucking scared and want to run. I know it because I fucking know you, and I saw the fucking proof when I got home.” He takes a deep breath and shudders a little before he growls so deeply it rumbles out of him. “But goddammit, Allie, you don’t gotta be scared of me. I’m the last fucking person you should be afraid of. I meant it when I told you you’ll never be safer than when you’re with me. I’ll kill any motherfucker that hurts you.”
Unable to counter his strength, I finally give up on trying to squirm my way free and collapse against him.
Clenching my eyes shut, I try hard to fight off the sense of utter fucking helplessness overwhelming me.
Does he even hear himself?