Free Miss Taken by Milly Taiden Page A

imagine the trouble the two of you got into together.”
    Luke chuckled and turned to her with a devilish twinkle in his eye. “You don’t even want to know the trouble we got into. My father used to say that the day Bastian and I became friends, our guardian angels took to drinking.”
    “Where’s your father now?”
    “He died during a trip to visit a friend. Their pride was attacked and my dad fought alongside them.”

 
     
     
     
    NINETEEN
     
    She hated her question had taken the smile off his face. Her heart hurt over the pain she saw in his eyes. “I’m sorry. That had to be tough. How old were you?”
    He took a drink of his water. “It was five years ago. Luna became my world after that. I didn’t want her to feel alone.”
    Wow. He truly was a wonderful guy. “I’m sorry.”
    He shook his head. “It’s okay. What about your dad. You said he died trying to control you.”
    She sighed. “Unlike the father you had, my dad was a control freak. He wanted his way or the highway. He was always so angry.”
    He glanced at her, still not eating. “Angry?”
    “Yeah. I often thought it was my fault. Because I was so big and he was always telling me nobody would love me being so fat.”
    His brows drew into an angry frown. “You know that’s not true. You’re beautiful exactly as you are.”
    Ah, yes. The same words her mother said to her. Somehow hearing them from Luke felt like a balm to her soul. Like maybe her mom hadn’t been a tiny bit biased. “I know. I realized later he was angry because he couldn’t divorce my mom. He’d turned her small family business into an empire and if he divorced her, she would keep it. The business belonged to her, but he was too paranoid to think she would never take it away from him. She had such a kind heart.” She shook her head. “So he went and had another kid with her to keep her busy. Of course, since it was a boy, he decided he needed to learn the business.”
    Even after Kira had worked her ass off for him during the summer. Took on every menial job available to learn the business. He had given Peter her business because she refused to do what he said. He’d given her bad-at-managing-money brother the business her mother left to Kira. The entire thing frustrated the hell out of her.
    She glanced up and met Luke’s gaze. Her vision was drawn to the window behind him. “Is it snowing?”
    He looked over his shoulder. “It is.”
    “We’re going to be buried in here.” She couldn’t really feel upset over the snow. Not when she was with Luke. There was something about him that not only turned her on, but also soothed the restlessness inside her. She wasn’t ready to marry the man, but he had potential for a lot more than stuck-in-a-cabin sex.
    “I have been meaning to ask you,” she said, finally eating more of her delicious food. “You don’t have many electronics in here. Why?”
    He raised a brow. “I don’t need anything more than my phone. If I need to get my laptop, then I do.”
    Okay, so he had a laptop. “But you have no TV. I get a lot of people don’t have TVs, but I had yet to meet one.”
    He curled his lips into that sinful smile that made her think of oral sex. “I can think of more fun things to do than to watch TV.”
    She’d done it to herself. “Speaking of more fun, what’s up with the crazy ex?”
    He ate in silence and for a moment she thought he might not answer. “She had other ideas.” He pinned her with his stare. “I don’t want her and she is having a bit of trouble accepting that.”
    Happiness filled her chest. She shouldn’t be excited he said that, but she was. He wanted her. Kira. Not the bitchy brunette with the ability to turn into something that could tear her to kibbles and bits in two point three seconds.
    “What kind of shifter are you?” she finally asked.
    “Lion.”
    “Ooooh. The king of the jungle.” She grinned. “I bet you get that a lot.”
    “No. I don’t.”
    She laughed at the