Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Instead of begging him to stay, instead of inviting him in, I turn back inside and close my front door right in his handsome damn face.
I don’t have to imagine what would happen if he stepped inside while my body burned for him.
It’ll be another rinse and repeat of the last two times.
Don’t get me wrong, it works. The man’s skill set is divine, but his ingrained schedule of actions that I’m sure has impressed a plethora of women, is insulting for me.
I press my back to the door, taking long, deep breaths until his motorcycle roars away. It takes less than a minute. Why would it take longer? The man isn’t struggling with wanting to stay. I’d bet everything I have that he ends up at Jake’s for a quick beer before taking a different woman back to the clubhouse for the same orgasm-inducing rinse-and-repeat night of pleasure.
I walk back through my kitchen and close the garage door, not because he instructed me to, because I’m in no way obeying the asshole, but I want to feel safe in my own home.
I’ve never struggled to feel safe here, but something about being alone in my house right now makes my skin crawl because once again Spade was right in something he said on the drive back from Telluride.
Will is an only child. He had a slew of cousins that were always around. He worked diligently to keep them away from me when they flirted. It was what attracted me to him, that tiny sliver of possessiveness, but it just wasn’t enough to light any type of fire between the two of us. More than anything, I wanted a higher level of connection to Will. I wanted proof that I could love and be loved. I was hungry for it, and I knew that had more to do with feeling less than wanted because my own mother couldn’t be bothered with sticking around.
“Fuck,” I grunt as I head out into the garage and struggle to get my overpacked suitcase and overnight bag into the house.
Wind rattling the garage door makes me skittish, and I convince myself that my subconscious is just looking for a reason to call Spade and beg him to come back.
It takes two trips to get my belongings into the house because I’m not some macho muscle-bound asshole like Spade, and a sheen of sweat is forming on my skin despite the chill in the air from the heat not being on the entire weekend.
I’m getting ready to strip for a bath when my phone rings. I’d like to say I calmly head toward my purse in the kitchen, but in fact, I scramble for it like an infatuated teen thinking her crush is calling.
I feel like an asshole when disappointment washes over me at the sight of my best friend’s name on the screen.
“Hey,” I answer when the call connects.
“How are you?”
“I’m good,” I say, feeling like a liar.
“Are you?”
“Yeah. Why do you ask?”
“Because Spade just stormed through the clubhouse like his balls were in a vice.”
I grin at her description, but it doesn’t last long. Thinking I have an effect on that man would be foolish.
“The weekend was a complete disaster,” I mutter, falling onto the oversized sofa in my living room.
“How so? Did he treat you poorly?”
I want to ask her to clarify as to what she considers poorly because I’m pretty certain she wouldn’t consider making me come as bad treatment, but I still feel a little ashamed that I even did that with him again. It’s as if I have no respect for myself these days.
“The house is in shambles. Naomi has a baby that I didn’t even know about. I’m certain she’s on some pretty hard drugs. I had to call her mom to come get her, and although she left with Aunt Laylah, I doubt she’ll stick around. The best I can hope for is that when she leaves, she doesn’t take the child with her.”
“Wow,” Faith says. “That’s a lot to deal with.”
“You’re telling me,” I mutter.
“It sounds like Naomi is lucky to have you and her mother looking out for the baby.”
Guilt swims in my gut at complaining because Faith was raised in foster care and until Legend came along, she had to deal with everything on her own. She never had someone she could call when things got tough.
“I’ve been so caught up with work and everything going on with Big Daddy that I didn’t even know my cousin had a kid, Faith.” My eyes burn with tears. “I thought I was going to have to call social services on her because I couldn’t just walk away and take the chance that the baby wasn’t taken care of.”
“You did the right thing,” Faith says, her voice full of love and consoling.