Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
She was silent, her eyes immediately dropping.
“Exactly.”
“What about you?” Her eyes lifted again. “You must make threats like that all the time.”
“I’ve never threatened a cop or their family. I’ve never threatened or hurt an innocent person. Now, a player in the game…totally different story. Anyone in my world is fair game, but the people who choose to live outside the game are spared my wrath. I know we don’t know each other very well, but I can’t see you being ruthless the way your father is. You have too good of a heart.”
She looked away again.
“I know this isn’t what you want. You just want your father’s approval because you think you owe him—when you don’t owe him shit. Yes, he’s a good father, but that doesn’t mean you need to meet his expectations—”
“What does it matter to you?”
“It matters because I fucking care about you,” I snapped. “Jesus Christ, why else would it matter to me? If I had a daughter, she would be nowhere near this shit. She wouldn’t have been downstairs in the basement around men your father barely knows, smoking cigars and shit.”
She left the bed altogether, yanking open a drawer to her dresser to pull out a t-shirt. She shoved it over her naked body and hid her curves from view. “I think you should go, Axel.”
“Because I said what you don’t want to hear? Get used to it, baby. That’s life.”
She turned her venomous stare on me. “No, that’s not how relationships work—”
“When you’re in a relationship with a real man, he’s going to say what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.” I got out of bed and faced off with her. “And the only reason you’re reacting this way is because it’s hitting too close to home, and you don’t like the way that feels.”
Her eyes remained furious. “Leave—”
“No.”
“I’ll pull out a gun and shoot you.”
“Do it, baby. It’ll just turn me on.”
Her anger mixed with shock. “You’re fucking crazy—”
“You make me crazy.”
She turned away.
I grabbed her by the arm and shoved her against the wall, harder than I meant to. I pushed into her and grabbed her by the neck, forcing her gaze on me.
She breathed hard but didn’t fight.
“You know how easy it would be to snap your neck right now?”
She breathed harder.
“I don’t want that to ever happen to you, baby.” I relaxed my hold on her throat. “I don’t want anything to happen to you…ever.”
After she held my stare for a while, she dropped her gaze. “Listen to me…”
I stared at her eyes as they avoided me.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Drop it.”
I said nothing, knowing that my warning had fallen on deaf ears. She was too close to the truth to see it. The love she had for her father blinded her to the truth, blinded her to her own feelings. And it was going to get her killed.
I released her altogether. “Fine.”
She remained against the wall, her guarded eyes on me. “We can’t see each other if this continues to be a problem. You said it would be uncomplicated, but every time I see you, it’s even more complicated.”
Complicated because I gave a damn. “I’ll shut my mouth, then.” My phone vibrated on the table, so I stepped away to check the message. It was my delivery confirmation. I opened the front door and found my butler there, holding the bag of items my chef had prepared. He was in sweatpants and a t-shirt, and he didn’t hesitate when he saw I was buck naked. Kept his eyes locked on mine. “Thank you.”
“Have a good evening, sir.” He turned back down the hallway.
I carried the bag to the table.
Scarlett stood there with both eyebrows up her face. “He just brought that to you?”
“Yes.”
“And you answered the door naked?”
“He’s seen me naked several times.”
“Why?”
I smirked as I started to set the table.
She seemed to form her own guesses and said nothing more.
I set the containers on the table. It was a petite steak with greens for me, and hers was my chef’s spaghetti, which was exquisite.
She sat down and admired it. “Wow, this looks good.”
“It’s the best spaghetti I’ve ever had.”
“Ooh, now I’m really intrigued.” Our fight seemed to be forgotten in light of the food in front of her. She grabbed her fork, spun it around the pasta, and took a bite. “Damn, this is good.”
“Now you know why he’s the boss.” I walked back into the bedroom to retrieve my boxers before we sat down. I opened the container and ate my steak, the two of us eating our meal in the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep.
Now it was the way it’d been before the fight, the two of us enjoying each other’s company in comfortable silence.