Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
He didn’t say anything for many seconds, or perhaps several minutes. He stroked her cheek, ran his thumb across her mouth, and then looked into her eyes. She was so trapped by them. A sharp blue, which seems insane. She had looked into many eyes over the years. Some of their four-legged, furry kind, and then the eyes of many experienced men and women. Drago looked … perplexed.
Selma didn’t have a clue what to say to him and remained silent, patient, waiting.
“I’m not used to this,” he said.
“Used to what?”
“Having to be patient. Being wrong. All my life, I’ve been alone, Selma. I haven’t answered to anyone in a very long time. I got the call, and I knew I had to take care of business. The truth is, all I wanted was to be here with you. I didn’t want to have to deal with any other shit. I wanted it all to be over and fast.” He stroked her cheek. “I thought about you every single day. Not just in the morning or at night, either. I thought about you all the freaking time, and I missed you so much.”
“Why didn’t you tell me where you were going, or call me?” That was what she didn’t get. If he missed her so much, would a phone call have hurt?
“The truth?”
She nodded her head.
“I didn’t think it would be enough. I didn’t want to call you, because I knew it would drive me crazy to hear your voice and to know I had to leave you back home. It would make me want to come home.”
“Drago?”
“I’m being serious.” He kissed her lips.
“I’m not joking around. This is real to me,” she said. “I … get it, I think, but you’re going to have to work for a long time, right? Does that mean every single time you do, you’re not going to be home? That I’m going to have to sit twiddling my thumbs until you decide to come home?” She saw the way his lips formed as if he was about to say yes, and she pressed a finger against his mouth. “Do not even think of saying yes, mister!”
He stopped trying to talk.
Selma took a deep breath, and it was hard to focus with her thoughts on his body, on the stiffness of his cock as it pressed against her stomach. She placed her hand on his chest. There were several buttons that had been undone, and she wanted to ease them open and touch the expanse of his naked chest. She held herself back and didn’t touch him beneath the fabric of his shirt. She so desperately wanted to, but she also wanted to deal with this.
“We all have to do things in life that we don’t like, and we don’t want to do.” She teased the edge of his shirt. “I don’t want to wait another week to talk to you, Drago. It’s not fair. We’re have to compromise. Maybe talk to your guards and have them write a letter? Or send me letters in the mail? Or text me. I could have my own cell phone?” That sounded like a good idea to her.
“And if you try to escape?”
This made her frown. “Why would I escape?”
“Selma, our marriage is not exactly a conventional one.”
“I know.” Their marriage had started on the basis he wouldn’t kill her father. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t … enjoy a conventional marriage. I’m not going to run away. Haven’t I proven that yet? I’m here, I want to make it work.”
“Or, you’re luring me into a sense of security and then when you’ve gotten me all softened up and trusting, you’re going to run?”
She couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “Wow, I sound awesomely badass, don’t I? I’m not going to run.”
“Because of what I’ll do to your father?” he asked.
It was on the tip of her tongue to disagree, but that would mean she wasn’t here for her father. Her being here had started with no choice, but that was changing. She happened to like Drago’s company. She certainly enjoyed being his wife on the most basic level. She loved his touch, and even though they only had sex a couple of times, she knew she wanted it again. She had missed him, missed his body, but her father had been the last person in her thoughts. He’d been more than willing to give her up for his own neck. Not once had he called to ask about her. There hadn’t been a single visit, and she hadn’t missed him. What did that say about her? It made no sense at all.
“Of course,” she said.
She was pretty sure his shoulders dropped, just a little. It was subtle, but she saw it. The lie didn’t make her feel good. She felt awful to have even said it. She wasn’t going to stick around because of her father. Selma had every intention of sticking around to see where this was going to lead. Her marriage to Drago had started out as blackmail and ultimatums, but that was not where it needed to end. Some people would consider her an optimist.