Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
I spun toward Evan and wrapped my hand around his thick throat. He had about fifty pounds on me and little brains to go with his brawn, but he wasn’t a complete idiot. He knew for whom and when to bare his belly.
“So guarantee it,” I ordered. Evan tried to speak, but I tightened my grip until his words became garbled. “This is your division. Your responsibility. Keep the girls happy and deal with the person behind these attacks, or I’ll find someone who will, captean.”
Evan had inherited his position just as I had, but only one of us had bothered trying to earn it before and after the fact. The Balfour family had descended from Titus Young, one of the founding members of the Brothers of Rory. Titus married one of my great-great-grandfather’s sisters and assumed the Balfour name to become made.
I let go of his worthless scion and ignored Evan’s glare as I took one last look around the destroyed parlor before leaving the underground brothel.
I made a few pit stops before returning to the penthouse after dark. There was music playing when I entered, and the change from the silence I had become accustomed to was jarring enough that I didn’t notice Coby standing at the window in the open-space living room. Her back was to me as she stared at the city below, her hands and forehead pressed against the cool glass.
“You have a lot of faith in that window,” I said as I shed my coat and tossed it over the back of the couch.
The elevator would have alerted her to my return, so Coby wasn’t surprised to see me when she turned away from the window. “I always wondered what the view looked like from up here,” she confessed. “You can see everything.”
“I’m glad you found a way to keep yourself entertained.”
Coby didn’t respond, and I didn’t wait for one as I entered the kitchen. I already knew she was about to curse my ass out, so I ate from the picked-over charcuterie board my private chef prepared while I patiently waited for my baby to speak her mind.
It didn’t take long.
“I agreed to marry you, but let’s be clear about one thing. It doesn’t mean you won’t need to earn me. I’m not a puppy. You can’t just keep me locked up in here to wait for you to come home. Try that shit again and I’ll…I’ll—”
I couldn’t resist the urge to touch her, so I grabbed her hand and gently pulled her closer until she was trapped between me and the counter. I kissed along her jaw as I pawed her lower back, her slight frame in my arms reminding me how easily I could break her. “What will you do, mo aingeal?”
I grunted when Coby’s nails dug into my chest—a testament of how easily she could break me, too. “I’ll smother you in your sleep.”
“Damn, okay.”
“I’m serious.”
Sighing, I lifted her onto the counter and kissed the palms of her hands. “My shit isn’t in order, Coby.” I saw the question in her eyes when she blinked in confusion at me. “It may not seem like it, but taking you was an impulsive decision. Your brother wasn’t the only one to force my hand.”
“But my room…the library—”
“Moments of weakness,” I whispered and then shrugged. “A man can dream.”
“It sounds like you were just lying to yourself.”
I chuckled at Coby calling me out. “Maybe.”
Coby did that thing she does whenever she’s trying to decide whether to speak her mind. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, and then she pouted before drawing a deep breath. “You dream about making me happy?”
“There’s a lot I want, Coby. None more than you, but there are things that I have to do first before that can happen. Things that will keep you safe.” I kissed her knuckles.
“Like killing people?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know if I want anyone dying just so I can marry you. Maybe we should slow down and date for a little while or something. You’re going through an awful lot of trouble when you barely even know me.”
Sidestepping that bullshit she was spitting, I replied, “It wouldn’t be just for that. There were many reasons before you.”
“Who do you have to kill?” I shook my head rather than answer, and Coby seemed to accept my reasons without knowing them. “I just don’t see the reason I have to stay locked in here like a prisoner. No one even knows we’re getting married. Why can’t I go home?”
“Because you’re my wife. Your home is with me.” Coby looked like she wanted to kick me in the face. “It won’t be like this forever. I know I don’t have the right to ask you for anything considering how shit went down, but I need you to be patient with me.”