Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Every time Nyomi opened her mouth and changed the shape of my battlefield, I wanted to bow in gratitude and lock every door in the same breath.
Fear was older than any of us, and it learned our habits, our shortcuts, our tells. It knew which memory to show us when it thought we needed to be terrified.
Fear didn’t argue with logic.
It argued with funerals.
“I’ll consider it,” The line of my jaw twitched. “But I won’t move a piece on this board without speaking to my Heart first. I’ll give you my answer after I talk to her.”
A huge smile spread across Reo’s face.
“She’s not bait. She’s my Heart. I’ll talk to her. If she wants in, it happens on my conditions and there will be lots of them. It would have to be daylight only, fixed routes, layered decoys, Hiro leads, Claws always diamond around her, and there is always a live feed for me.”
“Understood.”
I shook my head. “I’m already asking her to make the Claws dinner. Now I’m fucking commissioning her to be my detective.”
Reo blinked. “Dinner? For the Claws?”
“Yes, Hiro batted his lashes and I crumbled.”
“But. . .just the Claws?”
I frowned.
Reo quirked his brows. “I’m the Roar. Am I not invited?”
Exhausted with them all, I turned around and headed up the stairs. By the time I climbed a few steps, the tightness in my chest now had a pulse of its own, drumming against my ribs like it wanted out.
I needed rest.
I needed heat.
I needed her hands, her mouth, her pussy.
“The Roar is more important than the Claws,” Reo called after me. “Does she know this?”
With each step, the fatigue sat heavy in my bones and Tet’s blood splatter on my chest felt like a second shirt glued to my skin.
I needed a shower hot enough to peel the night off me—steam, soap, her hands on my shoulders pressing the iron out of my muscles.
But more than water, I needed my Tiger.
I wanted the heat of her pinned under my palms, the curve of her hips in that skirt branded into my hands, the clean scent of her hair cutting through copper and gun oil. I wanted to taste the laugh she kept just behind her teeth, to feel her legs tighten at my waist, to take all that softness and make it mine until the world went quiet.
And if she wanted me to kneel or crawl today. . .I would.
Power had crowded my ribs all day. The thought of kneeling for her made space inside me and even pushed some of the pressure away.
“Kenji,” Reo called up the stairwell. “She whispered one more thing.”
I stopped on the landing and looked down. “What was it?”
“She wants a Japanese translator to stay by her side, and she wants me to start giving her Japanese lessons.”
My grip tightened on the rail. “She asked for you specifically to teach her?”
“No. She asked if I could find her a good teacher, I decided that would be me. Who else but the Roar?”
I rolled my eyes at Reo’s cockiness and clear fascination with my Tiger.
You want to be closer to her to study her. You’re intrigued.
I turned away, heat low in my chest at the thought of my Tiger choosing to learn our tongue—choosing to step deeper into my world. Possessiveness nipped at the edges of that warmth. Of course Reo would volunteer himself and. . .he would in fact be the best.
“By the way,” Reo called up again. “What time is this dinner for the Claws happening? Is it tonight?”
I ignored him and kept climbing. I had a Tiger to find and a few answers to collect about why she’d left my war room early.
A minute later, the corridor softened. I neared our master suite. Our door stood ajar, perfumed steam curled into the hall.
Several of my staff zipped up the stairs, rushed past me, and entered the room.
What’s going on?
A housemaid hurried by with a silver tray piled with cut jasmine and rose petals.
Another followed carrying thick pink candles and a glass jar of bath salts.
I stopped as two more hurried along. One held black silk robes folded over her arm and a stack of snowy towels balanced in the other.
The next had an ice bucket and two crystal flutes.
As fast as they went in, they came right back out.
Each bowed my way and rushed along.
Stunned, I turned toward the door.
From inside came the melody of running water and a scent that uncoiled every knot in me—vanilla, jasmine, and lavender.
Mmmm. My Tiger is naked and glistening somewhere in all that steam. And. . .she’s been busy.
Chapter thirty
The Mystery in the Water
Kenji
I stepped into our bedroom and the tightness in my chest followed me.
Afternoon light slid through the curved glass and the sheer silk tamed it.
The sea beyond threw silver at the horizon.