Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Silas wiped his hands with a faded red cloth, gaze appraising as he looked me over.
“Good to meet you, Piper, though I’m guessing you aren’t the most thrilled by the need to meet me.”
“I’m just happy no one was hurt.” I forced the trembling words.
“Yeah, only thing that matters,” he agreed.
My attention drifted to my car. Fearful relief clutched my spirit when I saw the front was completely crumpled. The airbags were deflated, though they were clearly visible through the cracked front passenger window.
“How does it look?” I couldn’t keep the shaking from my voice.
Silas turned toward my car, humming low before he shifted back my way. “Well, she did her job protecting the occupants, which means the front buckled to absorb the brunt of the impact so there’s going to be a ton of body work. Plus, the axle is bent, and the airbags need to be reset. Insurance is likely to total it out.”
Alarm tightened my throat, and I tried to swallow around the barb, the words barely audible as I pushed them out. “I’ll be paying for it out of pocket.”
Theo’s attention whipped my way, his gaze searing into the side of my cheek.
I crossed my arms over my chest as I struggled not to look at him, trying to protect myself from the energy he emitted.
The man like a blackened sun.
Pure gravity.
I knew this was a mistake. Coming here. Allowing one single person the ability to look at me the way he was.
I could almost feel the agitation of his thoughts as he calculated, and there was no question when he came to the conclusion that I didn’t have insurance because I was broke.
“How much?” I whispered, hands running up and down my arms.
Silas looked back to study my car, a tattooed hand roughing through his brown hair that glinted beneath the sun. “Eh, seven…maybe six considering I owe Theo a favor or two.”
Oh, the favors this man was owed. I could only imagine how he’d earned them.
The menace that rolled off him. The power he oozed that made me sure he was exactly what I thought he was.
Trouble.
And crap, that was a lot of money, but not close to what I’d paid for it. I couldn’t just scrap it and leave it behind.
Irritation throbbed, and my skin felt clammy even in the frosty cold.
“Okay,” I finally managed to say.
“Send the bill to me.” Theo punted it from out of nowhere.
That time, there was no stopping it, and my gaze flew toward the man who stood there like any of this was normal.
The doctor and the motel and the groceries that we’d woken up to.
And now he thought he was going to pay for the repairs on my car?
“Absolutely not.” I couldn’t help but spew it, the fraying of my nerves sparking into a panic.
I was careful with the money. Didn’t fritter it away.
Our lives were far less than extravagant.
But there was no way. No way I could let him do whatever in the world he thought he was doing.
“Not a biggie.” Another freaking shrug from his arrogant body.
“Oh, it is plenty a biggie.”
Okay, so fine, it was clear the man had money. I guess owning a cute, eclectic motel in a tourist town was lucrative.
Or maybe he was crooked.
Bad.
My insides convulsed with the thought, but I shoved it down where it belonged.
I was nothing to him and he was nothing to me.
It didn’t matter who he was or what he did.
Theo fully turned in my direction, eclipsing me in shadow as he took a step forward.
Towering.
Obliterating.
His voice dropped to something that sounded too close to a threat. “Told you that I wanted to take care of you while you’re here.”
“And I told you that I don’t need your help.”
A low chuckle coming from Silas cut into our stare down. “How about I let you two argue this out on your own time? Seems I have a new project to get started on and plenty of other duties to attend to.”
I whipped my attention to him. “How long will it take?”
It was almost amusement that lit on his face as he glanced at Theo.
Theo who stood so close to me, he might as well have been tacked to my side.
Like I was...
I gulped, refusing to allow the thought to even enter my brain.
Silas’s brown eyes slid back to me. “At least three weeks.”
“Three weeks?” I screeched.
“That’s generous,” he said.
Dread slipped into my being, and I pressed a shaky hand to my stomach in an attempt to stop the nausea that suddenly churned.
Three weeks.
I couldn’t stay here for three weeks.
In this town that had begun to feel like a trap.
Too beautiful and cozy to be real. A mirage that would enchant me into carelessness.
“Just make sure when you finish that her car is as safe as it was before the accident,” Theo ordered.