Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
“My neighbor’s cat, remember? If you turn me out, I’ll find myself married to Mrs. Fluffybottom within a month.”
“Will you have to take her name?”
“Unfortunately, yes. I will be Mr. Fluffybottom.”
She grinned. But it quickly faded, a sad look filling her face.
“Hurting yourself isn’t allowed. Understand?”
A look of guilt filled her face, making him feel ill. Did she hurt herself? Fuck. How had he not seen that?
“Baby girl,” he whispered hoarsely. “Have you been hurting yourself?”
She shook her head. “No. No. I don’t do that.”
Relief flooded him.
“Not anymore.”
“Anymore?”
“I struggled a lot . . . after what . . . after what Matthew did to me.”
He clenched his hands into fists. “That fucking bastard.”
She wrapped her arms tightly around her legs again. Shit. She was closing off from him and he didn’t like it. He wanted her to feel safe with telling him anything.
So maybe stop growling over everything she tells you and listen.
“You used to hurt yourself?” he asked.
“How is it that you can get me to tell you things about myself that I’ve never told anyone?” She gave him a bewildered look.
“No one? No one knows about this?” How had she been living with this, coping with it all on her own? How did Sav not know about this?
“Well . . . other than the therapist I saw for a while,” she whispered. “She helped me to get control of my emotions. To stop hurting myself as a way of finding release, of easing all the stress.”
Fuck. God, he hated everything that she’d been through.
“I’m damaged, Hack. Broken.”
“You are not fucking damaged. And what if your broken bits fit in with mine? What if what you need is exactly what I want to give? I can be a bulldozer when I want something. I like to be in control.”
“Have you told Mrs. Fluffybottom about this side of you?”
“Good Lord, no. I don’t want to scare her off before the wedding.”
She gave him a faint smile and something inside him eased.
He wanted to press her for more information about how she used to hurt herself, but she had to be exhausted and he didn’t want to push her too much.
No way did he want to risk her running.
“I wanted you to kiss me,” she whispered. “I liked it. It wasn’t the kiss that was the problem. It was my head.”
“It’s all right, baby. I’m going to be so much more careful in the future. I promise.”
“You don’t want to leave?”
“No. I’m not going anywhere. Why don’t we go have some lunch and then relax this afternoon? We can do whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want?”
“Yep.”
“Will you model for me so I can sketch you?”
“I don’t know, that’s a huge sacrifice.” He put his hand on his chest. “But for you, I’d do anything.”
33
Greer wandered around the house in a daze.
She felt so lost. Hack had been called into the hospital for an emergency surgery and she was on her own.
It didn’t help that she hadn’t slept well last night. She’d tossed and turned half the night thinking about that kiss.
Why had she freaked out?
She was such an idiot.
It wasn’t like she thought he would hurt her. She trusted him.
Part of her wished she could do it all over. Could kiss him again. After her freak out yesterday, they’d tiptoed around one another for the rest of the day. It had felt weird. Wrong.
He’d treated her like glass. And there had been several times when he’d reached out to touch her, then pulled back.
She didn’t want things to be like that between them. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to kiss and touch her. She’d just let her brain fuck everything up.
Was all of this fair to him, though?
He didn’t even know all of it . . . she couldn’t expect him to stay with her once he found out.
Sitting with a sigh, she stared out the window. She should probably try to do some work, but Hack had made her promise that she would rest her wrist before he’d rushed out a few hours ago.
But she needed something to do.
Maybe she’d make some cookies. Everyone liked cookies. They made everything better.
With a plan in place, she set about getting all the ingredients ready. Putting them all in the bowl, she tried to stir it, but the stupid bowl wouldn’t stay in place. She had to wrap her whole arm around it and pick it up to cradle it next to her.
The sound of a door opening and shutting made her cry out in surprise.
“Honey, I’m home!” Hack called out as the bowl slipped from her arm and shattered on the floor.
“Shit!”
“Greer! Greer, what happened?” Hack raced into the kitchen, looking worried.
“Nothing much. I just broke one of Livvy’s bowls and made a huge mess. Urgh, damn it!” She stomped her foot.