Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Wasn’t that what he was doing already? He took care of her. He made sure she had “wellies” when it rained, and when she complained about her feet hurting because she spent hours standing while helping Arthur with one of the sheep giving birth, he’d shifted and gotten them in his lap and rubbed them until she sighed. He cuddled her and made sure she was comfy.
If she walked through that door, she was giving him the right to do all of those things. Up until this moment she could fool herself because the permission was implied, not spoken out loud. She wasn’t his sub. She was his… She couldn’t even say prisoner since at least once a day his cohort asked if she wanted to go to the sea. There were no locks meant to keep her in, no cuffs to shackle her.
But there would be if she walked through that door. There would be a contract between them. Oh, it wouldn’t be signed and witnessed and filed in The Hideout’s office, but it would be there.
What made him change his mind?
Why was he in the barn? Like there was a perfectly fine bedroom. That was full of cats.
So the barn it was.
And she wanted to know what he’d been doing in the barn. Her curiosity wouldn’t let her walk away. She had to know.
It didn’t have to mean anything. It didn’t have to touch her soul.
She pushed through the doors and the barn was quiet, the sound of soft rain on the roof the only noise.
“I’m up here,” he said, and she realized he was on the second floor. She rarely went up there. From what she could tell it was used to store things they didn’t work with every day. It was mostly empty.
Except even from here she could see Zach had made some changes.
He had taken off his shirt. His big chest was on beautiful display, and his jeans hung low on his hips. His hair had grown out since he’d gone on the run. That dark silky hair had started to brush the tops of his ears, and she had the most insane desire to run her hands through it.
She took a deep breath and started up the ladder.
He was waiting to help her, big hand coming out to hold her own.
“What made you change your mind?” She was pleased with how solid she sounded. Like this was no big deal.
He made sure she was steady on her feet before he backed away. “A friend gave me some advice. He thinks I might regret never taking this chance with you.”
She wasn’t sure what the word chance had to do with it. “I told you what I was willing to do weeks ago.”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s the chance I’m taking. You were open and honest that this is going to mean nothing. That you need a physical release and I’m handy.”
“You’re not fucking handy, Zach. There is nothing convenient about you or the situation we’re in.” It was a ridiculous assumption. “I only meant that I know this isn’t going anywhere, so I’m not opening my heart to you.”
“And I am. And that is what I am risking.”
“You don’t have to. I’m being honest with you.”
His hand came out and he touched her, really touched her for the first time in days. Not a brush of his hand as they passed each other or a caring caress or those moments in the early morning when her brain was fuzzy and she wanted to stay asleep because his arm was over her waist. There was intent in the way he took her chin in hand, forcing her to look up at him. She was tall, but Zach made her feel petite.
He also sometimes made her feel like an idiot, so she should remember that.
“The question is are you being honest with yourself.” He loomed over her, his big body so close all it took was to reach up to touch his chest. Feel the heat of his body, the softness of skin over hard-earned muscle.
“And if I am?” She wasn’t going to lie and say she was sure. She wasn’t. She wasn’t sure of anything except the fact that her body was starting to heat up. From the minute she read that note, she’d felt again. Not fear or anxiety. She’d felt the slow hum of her body awakening, the anticipation of getting her needs met. Of letting go for a few hours. Letting Zach take over.
Her body trusted this man implicitly. She wasn’t sure about her heart.
“Then I’ll deal with the consequences, sweetness. I don’t know how much time we have, but I want to spend it with you. Being with you the way we really are.”
A Dom and sub. The man he was and the woman she was. “Then we start, Sir.”