Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
‘I really do think you should keep him.’
Biting into her sandwich again, Emberlyn frowned. ‘Like he’s a dollar I found on the floor?’
‘Yes. Because you want to.’
Conscious of some egg sticking to her cheek, Emberlyn plucked a napkin from the table dispenser and wiped at it. ‘Actually—’
‘You want to,’ Paisley repeated. ‘Admit it.’
Sighing, Emberlyn conceded it with a brief tilt of her head. ‘I never expected him. I mean, I always knew he was super protective, but I didn’t think that trait would ever be centered on me this way.’ She crumpled up the napkin and dumped it beside the dispenser. ‘He gets so mad when anyone gives me issues. If he thinks something is playing on my mind, he prods and pokes until I talk about it; he wants to fix it, make me feel better. And he’s always goddamn feeding me.’
Paisley’s eyes gleamed with suppressed laughter. ‘It bothers you that he wants to get behind your walls, because it’s working very well. It also weirds you out a little as you’re not used to people angling to get close to you.’
‘It would be annoying if it was in any way patronizing. But it’s not.’ Emberlyn grabbed her bottle, unscrewed the cap and knocked back some water. ‘It’s like . . . he knows I can quite easily handle my own shit and take care of myself. He just doesn’t want me to have to do it alone.’
‘How is that bad?’ asked Paisley around a mouthful of food, covering her lips with her hand.
‘I didn’t say it was bad.’ Emberlyn placed her water back down. ‘It just makes it hard to be okay with knowing that this might not be something he intends to make permanent. And honestly, the idea of “more” is a little scary. The last time I had a werewolf in my life, it didn’t end so well.’
‘That was a whole different beast. And the probability of it happening again is super low, as we once already covered.’
‘Ripper feels the call of the moon more than most.’
‘But he’s strong enough, especially with the aid of your elixirs, to fight it. And he’d damn well never use it as an excuse to cheat.’
Emberlyn took another bite of her sandwich. ‘I told him what Michael did.’
Paisley’s eyes went wide. ‘Really?’
‘I wasn’t going to. But he guessed, and he pushed me to admit it. Then he called me “baby”, and apparently I’m a total sucker for that because the next thing I knew I was blurting out the story.’
Her lips twitching, Paisley opened her can of soda. ‘Hearing that, I like Ripper more than I already did. What did he say?’
‘Something about wanting to punch the piss out of Michael.’ Which had been . . . touching. ‘He said I deserved better.’
‘You do.’ Sipping her drink, Paisley watched Emberlyn carefully. ‘You trust Ripper. You’ve been super secretive about Michael’s betrayal – you even kept it from Kage, though we both know it’s because I’m your favorite.’
‘I kept it from your brother because he wouldn’t have agreed to keep it secret,’ Emberlyn countered. ‘Kage would have been too furious at Michael to protect his reputation. He would have talked everyone into letting Michael rot in Bloodhill.’
‘Don’t think I wasn’t tempted to do the same. The only reason I didn’t is that I make a point of never breaking my word, unlike Kage. Anyway, for you to have told Ripper that Michael betrayed you, you must trust him.’
Emberlyn hummed. ‘I guess I do.’ Which said a lot, because she didn’t put her faith in people easily. ‘So much so that I didn’t even ask him to promise not to repeat what I told him.’ She’d automatically known that he never would. ‘But I trusted Michael, too.’
‘Ripper is not him. He’s stronger. Has more integrity. He’s loyal right down to his soul. Hence why I’m telling you that you really ought to keep him.’
‘I could only do that if he was interested in being kept.’
‘He is. He may not consciously know it yet but, believe me, he is.’
Walking down her front path later that day, Emberlyn watched as Ripper rounded his truck. Their gazes collided and, quite naturally, her pulse lost its rhythm as their chemistry sparked to waking life. It often felt like said chemistry was electrically powered. Like her body had been plugged into a damn socket. That ever-present pull between them just never eased up.
He looked his fill, like always – his eyes flaring with heat. She’d learned that he liked this dress. Champagne-colored and body-hugging, it had a subtle thigh slit and provided a nice flash of cleavage.
As she reached him, he stepped into her, sucking the oxygen out of the air. Or, at least, that was how it felt – the uncivilized vibe, the rough and gritty deliciousness of him . . . it all stole the breath right out of her lungs.