Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 124(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 124(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
But should I really care? Do I even have a right to be jealous? After all, it’s not like I could have expected him to live life as a monk before he met me. He’s tall and gorgeous… He must have had countless women throwing themselves at him since forever.
Still, images of him on top of other women begin to haunt me.
I picture him naked, sweating, pounding them like he did me, and a pain wrenches my gut.
I whirl around, ready to say something, but Roman’s eyes pin me in place.
“Want a grilled cheese?”
My lips tremble. Did he really just ask me that?
“A grilled cheese?”
“That’s right,” he replies as he goes around the room, checking the windows. “I don’t keep much food here, but I make a killer grilled cheese.”
I don’t answer. I can’t. My mind is a blur as he turns and strides into the kitchen and goes to the fridge. All I can do is watch as he gets everything together. The cheese, the bread, a little bit of butter. It’s like he’s done this a thousand times.
“So this is what you do?” I ask. “Kidnap women and then make them grilled cheese?”
The look he gives me pushes me back on my heels. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. He’s disgusted by my question. His eyes narrow as he slowly shakes his head.
“Annie, I don’t kidnap women. I don’t bring women here. No one has ever been here. Only you.”
That was stupid. But I don’t know what to say in a situation like this. Hell, I barely even know how to feel. I’m still processing the countless emotions whirling through me like a hailstorm.
“Right, you don’t kidnap women,” I reply. “You just kill them.”
Why am I doing this? I want this man. All I’m going to do is push him away.
But would he even let me do that?
“How many people have you killed, Roman?”
“I don’t have an exact number.” He shrugs. “More than you’d like.”
His response should bother me. But for some reason, it doesn’t. Maybe it’s because I know for a fact that he wouldn’t hurt me. I believe him now. I feel it in my bones, in my heart, in my soul. Roman would never intentionally put me in harm’s way.
Oh, the irony. The man sent to kill me is now my protector.
“And you don’t…have anyone?” I feel so stupid asking, but I can’t help myself. I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but I have to be sure.
Roman brings his eyes to me. The wind bellows strongly outside. I hear tree branches clattering off the walls as he holds my gaze.
“I’ve never had anyone, Annie. The first woman I’ve ever truly wanted is you.”
Every emotion I’ve felt since I first saw Roman standing in my room instantly comes swirling violently up through my center. I crack like ice on a frozen lake. My lips tremble. My eyes start to sting. Oh, no. I’m going to cry. I can’t. Not now.
So I do the little trick I learned when I didn’t want to cry around my dad.
I clench my butt. Hard.
I learned it online. At first, I thought it was crazy, but then I tried it when Dad missed my seventeenth birthday, and it worked. It totally worked. It worked then, and it works now.
The toaster oven behind Roman dings. He goes over to it and takes out my grilled cheese.
It does look delicious.
And I believe him when he says he has never made one of these for another woman.
Just me.
Somehow, that makes me feel even more special than any of the things he did to me back at my place. Such a simple act, just making a sandwich for me, has me melting inside like the cheese oozing out the sides of the bread.
We take a seat at a humble table in the corner, and he brings me a glass of water. I go to take my first bite, but my hands are shaking. Countless questions continue to badger my mind.
What if Roman’s boss finds us here? What if Dad tries to reach me? Where will I get more clothes? Another phone? What if I’m reported missing?
“Annie, relax,” Roman says. “You eat. Let me do the worrying.”
His voice soothes me instantly. The tension slides out of my body like I’m a deflating balloon. This is what I’ve been waiting for: a man who can take control from me. A man who can lead. A man who can tell me where to go and command me to do anything with his authority.
Raising the sandwich to my mouth, I take a small bite, and my mouth bursts with flavor.
Wow, this might be one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.
My heart starts racing again as I look across the table at him. Chiseled jaw, broad shoulders, monstrous chest. Even sitting, it’s like he takes up the whole room. His sheer presence is overwhelming.