Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
“Don’t have one.”
That didn’t make sense. “How did you get here? You’re injured.”
A faint grin sent her heart into overdrive. His smile was stunning yet terrifying in the way she reacted to it. She just didn’t—couldn’t—have such intense chemistry with any other person. But Wilder?
“Happy you finally noticed I could use a little assistance. It hurts like a son of a bitch.”
She kept walking, ensuring she didn’t move too fast. A fine sheen of sweat glistened on Wilder’s face. He hunched even more as they made their way slowly back toward her house.
“Ran into trouble on a mission. Parachuted in to you.” His low, velvet-toned voice was barely discernible. “Don’t want to take the chance of paperwork in the hospital that would lead straight back to me. If this is inconvenient…” He shrugged.
“As if I’d ever turn you away.” She wasn’t going to point out she was risking her license, depending on how bad it was. She could get in trouble if he’d been shot. That was something she would be obligated to report—not that she would, and she was usually by the book.
As if reading her mind, he took one hand and ran it down the back of her hair as they walked. “Things go wrong, you need anything at all, you reach out to Rainier. He has the pull to get you out of trouble.”
Her heart stuttered. “You stay here. I’ll go get the car.” Something was very wrong. She should have realized Wilder would never be sweating or stumbling the way he was if the injury wasn’t bad.
He kept walking. As he did, he slid one palm to her lower back and pressed gently to keep her moving. “Let’s just get there, babe.”
Under any other circumstances, she would have objected strenuously to being called babe by him. Now, she just wanted to get him safely to her home.
“Distract me. Talk. Tell me why you were out here when you know better and why you were crying.”
She heaved an exaggerated sigh. “I don’t understand how you can manage to be annoying even when you’re clearly seriously wounded.”
He flashed that faint grin of his that could melt the panties right off a woman. “It’s a gift.”
Harlow was slightly ashamed that she reacted to that little grin. It seemed a little perverted that she was thinking of sex when he was most likely bleeding to death. His skin had a grayish hue and was beaded with sweat. He might act confident, but he was severely injured. Ordinarily, she would have taken charge, but Wilder wasn’t a man she could manipulate or control, not even when it came to his health. She kept walking, determined to get him to her house as soon as she could.
“Wilder, it’s clear you’re really injured. I should give Rainier a call. He can come help me.”
His palm crept up her back to settle around the nape of her neck as they walked. “I don’t want you to call Rainier unless you absolutely need to. I wasn’t working for him. He’ll be pissed as hell and feel responsible when he isn’t. I walked into an ambush. They were waiting for me.”
At his tone, she glanced up at his face. He wore the expressionless mask that was normal for him, but his eyes were alive with something deadly. A chill crept down her spine. Wilder wasn’t going to let this go, no matter what she said. She kept her head down, looking at the ground as they covered the distance to her home. More and more, he leaned his weight into her. She was certain he wasn’t even aware of it. That alarmed her. Wilder was always aware. She was calling Rainier whether he liked it or not.
“This is my mess. I’ll clean it up.”
She narrowed her gaze and flashed him a frown, hoping it was intimidating. He didn’t look in the least bit as if it were. “Stop reading my mind.”
“Is that what you think I do? Woman, really? Your friend Vienna is the poker player. Definitely not you. You have this little storm that gathers in your eyes when you’re about to do something you know I won’t like.”
“That must happen all the time because you don’t like anything I do.” It hurt even to say it, but it was the truth, and sometimes, throughout her life with her parents, telling herself the truth was the only thing that saved her pride. She had a code, and she lived by it. It was very, very far from her parents’ code.
Wilder stumbled, and her heart nearly stopped. His fingers tightened on the nape of her neck as if she were his support, keeping him from falling over.
“Unfortunately for the two of us, I like everything you do. That storm building in your eyes is sexy as hell.” There was a trace of amusement in his voice.