Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Okay, baby. See you soon.”
I chuckle over the fact that she doesn’t even ask, just demands, and Micah doesn’t argue. Simply agrees. I used to think it was because he was pussy-whipped, but now, I’m starting to get it. He loves Sienna and wants to see her happy. He’s not pussy-whipped—his wife owns his heart. All these years, I didn’t understand it. Couldn’t imagine a woman ruling my every move. But now, when I do something that makes Ellie happy, and she hits me with that beautiful smile, I absolutely get it. Because that’s all I want—for Ellie to be happy.
Fuck, Ellie! I left without letting her know. I consider calling her, but then I glance over at Micah and change my mind. We’re going to need to have a conversation about Ellie and me, but now isn’t the time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ELLIE
I wake up to an empty bed and a sore body—thanks to being thoroughly fucked—and sigh, wondering when I became such a pushover. I blame Lincoln. I’ve been in love with him for so long that I allow my feelings for him to cloud my judgement. Any other guy playing this hot and cold game would’ve been thrown to the curb, but when Lincoln goes all caveman and demands I’m his, I turn into a puddle of Jell-O. I should be stronger than that, demand that he stop playing games, but the expert way he works my body is enough to drive me to stupidity. I’m calling it dick brain. Lincoln fills me with his dick, and I turn into a dumbass.
My phone pings with a text, and when I open it, I find a message from Sienna asking to meet everyone for brunch. I don’t know who everyone is, but I’m assuming she’s referring to her and my nieces, so when I show up at the restaurant she messaged, I’m confused to find Donna and Michael there as well.
“Hey, sis!” Sienna says, getting up to give me a hug—well, as much of one that she can give with both of us being pregnant. “The guys are on their way.” Hmm, nice of Lincoln to let me know.
She pulls back and looks down at my belly and grins. “You seriously have the cutest bump. Why can’t mine be this adorable?”
“Oh my God.” I roll my eyes. “Yours is adorable. You’re just almost eight months along, while I’m barely half-baked.”
“How are you feeling?” Donna asks. It’s been a little awkward with Michael since they found out I was expecting Lincoln’s baby, but Donna has been sweet, texting me to make sure I’m okay.
“I’m good,” I tell her, walking over and giving her a kiss on her cheek before I sit down. Sienna sits on one side, with Brooklyn and London on each side of her. So, I leave the chair open for Micah to sit with his family and sit on the other side between Donna and the empty seat.
We’re just ordering drinks when the guys stroll in, intense expressions on their faces.
They stop at their dad first to give him a hug and then their mom, both of them kissing her on her cheek. I hold my breath as Lincoln scans the table for an empty seat, hoping that the things he said last night weren’t just his jealousy and dick talking, but when he strolls past me without so much as a hello, while Micah gives Sienna a kiss that rivals those in the romance books I read, my heart cracks.
He orders a drink, then turns his attention on me. “How are you feeling?”
“Cold,” I mutter, sounding as bitter as I feel.
“Do you need a jacket?” he asks, already moving to remove his like the perfect gentleman he is.
“No,” I bite out, then take a sip of my coffee.
“Hey, Lincoln,” Micah says from across the table. “How did the meeting go with Brody yesterday?”
“I had to reschedule,” Lincoln tells him.
“What? You’ve had that meeting scheduled for months. You told me you’d handle it. He’s a major player—”
“Something came up,” Lincoln says, cutting him off. “He understood.”
“What the hell came up that had you blowing off Fields?”
Lincoln opens his mouth, then closes it, and it hits me that the meeting he blew off to chase after me yesterday is the one they’re talking about.
“There was an issue at the club,” he lies.
It’s not that I expected him to go into full detail about what happened between us in front of everyone, but the way he flat out lies makes me feel like I’m his dirty secret. Like he gets off on fucking me behind closed doors, but I’m not good enough to be anything more than that.
My thoughts take me back to high school when I went on a study date with Jameson, a kid from my school. I thought maybe he was interested in me, but he was only interested in fucking me. Told me that I was the type of girl guys fucked, not dated. It didn’t matter that I was living in Micah’s expensive hotel and attending an elite art school, I was still the poor girl from Booker Park. Lincoln sat with me and told me that guy was wrong, yet here we are, years later, and he’s fucking me in secret, embarrassed to tell his family about me.