Page 91 of Three Reckless Words

Well, shit.

This is what happens when you let instinct jump in the driver’s seat and take the wheel.

I’m not sure logic has had a single say in my decisions ever since I got to Winnie’s house. Seeing her ex barge in like that, belittling and threatening her, turned my vision red.

Before, I wasn’t sure what to think about him. Sure, she didn’t want to marry him, but that didn’t mean he was an absolute subhuman worm.

That just means they weren’t meant to be together.

She didn’t want him for good reason.

It’s not like she ever went into great detail, and I didn’t pry.

Damn good thing she didn’t.

Because I might have been tempted to blow into Springfield to make sure he understood the concept of distance. And yes, maybe to fuck him up a bit for good measure.

If I knew he was an abuser who talks like he owns her, I never would have let him set one foot on my property.

Logically, it’s irrational as hell.

That’s bully fists-first caveman shit speaking, not a man who stakes his entire life on rules, laws, order.

Winnie Emberly is not my fiancée.

She’s not my anything.

She’s just a girl who’s showering down the hall and singing hideously off-key. Meanwhile, I’m in my room, fighting a hard-on, because even though I’m pissed as all hell at her abusive ex, I can’t make myself unsee her showering in my head.

Water curling down round breasts and peaked nipples.

Her soft stomach, hips, and long, long legs.

Soap suds foaming across that softness, running down toward her—

Fuck.

I’m so hard I think my heart has migrated south, throbbing like mad.

How can a woman this strange and annoying rile me up so much? I barely even mesh with her as a person.

I kissed her, yeah, but that just means I find her sexy.

That was base biology speaking, and nothing more, even if she flips my switch in a way it hasn’t been flipped in years.

I shake my head and snort, dropping my face into my hands.

Who the hell am I kidding?

There’s something about Winnie thatdemandsI like her.

Almost like this hurt calling to me every time she speaks. I’d sooner cut off my ears than be deaf to it.

She was so quiet earlier, so wounded, even when she apologized like it’sherfault, having her fuckboy ex coming at her like that.

I had to step in.

I had to act.

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