Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
“I was scared, too, but it feels so different now.” Her voice was hushed, like she was issuing a secret.
I glanced from the windshield to her, and I stroked my thumb over the tiny scar at the edge of her mouth. “You don’t have to be afraid anymore. Don’t have to run anymore.”
Uncertainty held her, and I peeked over to where she was staring across at me.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay with your mom?” It caused me physical pain to ask it.
I kept glancing between her and the road, and her pale, pale eyes were wide in the flashes of light. “You don’t want me to go with you?”
Rejection twisted my stomach. The promise I’d made Ellis at the beginning of all this flashed through my mind—the one where I’d said that after we ended the monster, I would leave her behind.
That fucking nagging worry at the back of my mind. The what if that questioned if what we’d been told might be true. That I’d turn on her.
My head shook sharply.
No. Not a fucking chance. And even if she asked me to, I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. “The only place I want you is with me,” I admitted, the words rough.
“Because that’s where we belong.”
“That’s right. You belong right here, with me.” I reached down and squeezed her upper thigh.
The air shifted, tightening with greed. With the hunger we’d tried to suppress.
Guess we shouldn’t have been surprised that there’d been no chance of that.
“Where should we go after this?” Aria asked, her voice just short of a tease. She curled her hand over mine, which was still attached to her thigh.
“Taking my princess to that island sounds like a pretty good plan right about now.”
Slush fell from the drizzling sky, and my wipers swished over the frozen moisture.
“I think I’d like that,” she said as she turned her gaze out the window, her demeanor going wistful.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Though anywhere I go with you would be perfect,” she murmured, turning her sweet attention back to me.
“Thinking a hotel room tonight, and not one of those shitty ones we’ve been staying at. I want to lay you out right.” There was no keeping the need out of my tone—not that I was trying.
A flush lit her cheeks, and I could feel the heat glide through her veins.
I loved that we could be like this. That I could flirt with my girl and show her what it was like to really be treated right without the worry trailing our every step. Loved that maybe, for a little while, we could let go and relax.
“What about what happened at the facility? Are you not afraid of getting caught?” She whispered it like she was afraid that if she said it too loud, I might.
Thing was, I had committed so many crimes in my life that I hardly considered them anymore. That one was close to inconsequential compared with the rest.
“We’ll face it if it comes to that. We should probably settle somewhere away from Albany, though.”
“We aren’t going to stay on that island forever?” The teasing reemerged. “What, am I only a part-time princess?”
I moved my hand to squeeze the inside of her thigh. A squeal of laughter rolled out of her. God, I loved the sound of it.
Her joy.
Her freedom.
Exactly what I’d hoped to give to her but had never believed could truly make happen.
“Nah, baby, you’re my forever princess.”
That blush deepened, though it was affected, and affection dragged a pretty flush over the surface of her milky skin. “I’ll take that.”
I sobered, too. “I’ll give you everything I can, Aria.”
I pulled into a hotel about ten minutes away from where we’d dropped her mother off at her grandmother’s. It wasn’t quite a five star, but it was a place where we could get cozy and rest. I parked, grabbed our things, and for once, I didn’t ask Aria to wait for me to get us a room. We strolled in together like it was what we were meant to do.
The guy working registration didn’t blink when I pulled out a wad of cash.
We rode the elevator to the fifth floor, and I slung my arm over Aria’s shoulders, and she leaned into my side as we walked down the long hall with doors on each side. I touched the card to the sensor and let us into the room.
Aria moved in ahead of me, and she spun in the middle of the living area, where there was a couch against the wall and a round table beneath the window. Something seductive played over the edges of her features. “Oh, you really are trying to spoil me.”
“That’s the plan, though it doesn’t have a thing to do with this room.”
Her teeth scraped that lush bottom lip, and she moved to the door that led to the bedroom at the back. She peeked back at me. “Are you sure about that? Because I was hoping it might involve this big, comfy bed.”