Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
I dropped my gaze from his. He didn’t know me yet.
“Trust me, the flaws are there. Keep looking. They’ll rear their ugly heads soon enough.”
Twelve
Wilder
I needed to fuck. It had been too long. That was all this was. The dream had meant nothing—other than I was in dire need of sinking my dick into a willing cunt. One who wouldn’t expect anything from me. Who would go away after. Someone easy.
The doorbell rang, followed by Belladonna barking at the noise, interrupting my internal battle. The one where my damn subconscious had wanted to screw me up while I was asleep. As if I needed any more help in that area. Annoyed by whoever was at the door, I left my coffee that was still brewing in the kitchen to go see who was here to bother me. Sarah had been pouting for two days, and nothing I could do seemed to get her out of it. She was mad at me for not asking Oakley to come stay with her for the next two nights.
I had paid an ungodly amount to take her to Disney World on Halloween, and at least twenty times that night, she’d mentioned how much Oakley would have loved it.
Stalking to the door, angry that Oakley was causing issues with my relationship with my daughter and now my sleep, I hoped whoever had decided to bother me had a good fucking reason. Belladonna was wagging her tail with excitement as she stared at the door. She barked at me, as if to tell me to open the damn thing already. Impatient, happy dog. I grabbed the handle and jerked it open, not looking to see who it was first.
The blue eyes glaring at me with that fake bright smile on her stunning face tripped my temper over the thin line it had been balancing on. Belladonna pushed past me to get to our uninvited guest like she was a walking piece of bacon.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I seethed, wishing like hell the dream I’d had last night about fucking her like a crazed man in my shower wasn’t replaying in my head.
Damn her for always being a walking wet dream. Destroying men everywhere she went. Getting in their heads. Ruining their lives.
She didn’t balk at the threat in my voice. Instead, her smile widened, as if this were a friendly exchange. She squatted down and hugged Belladonna, whispering what a sweet girl she was and how much she’d missed her. Then, she stood up and pushed past me, walking into my house with a duffel bag in her hand.
“I’m here to stay with Sarah while you’re away. You can call Ms. Maynard and tell her you no longer need her assistance,” Oakley announced, as if she had the right to walk into my house, uninvited, and tell me who was going to watch my kid.
“Like hell you are. I didn’t ask you because I don’t want you here,” I replied. The snarl in my tone wasn’t necessary, but I was fucking pissed.
Oakley’s bag dropped with a thud to the floor, and then her hands went to her hips that flared beneath her tiny waist. Jesus Christ, was she not wearing a bra? I forced my eyes off her tits and met her heated gaze. She appeared as angry as I was. Who the hell cared? This was MY house. Sarah was MY kid.
“My niece texted me, upset. She misses me. I am here,” she stated matter-of-factly.
Of course she had. I should have assumed Sarah had told Oakley about this. Sarah told Oakley everything, it seemed. She rarely talked to me these days, and since she’d found out Ms. Maynard was coming to stay with her, she’d gone silent.
“Listen, Wilder. I know you hate me. I have been aware of that for years. But this isn’t about how you feel about me. This is about Sarah. SHE loves me. SHE is the only family I have. You trying to keep me away from her is going to hurt her. She’s had enough pain. Don’t cause her any more. It’s not like I am unfit to keep her. I’m sorry about the mural. Her room was just”—she stopped, and her eyes scanned the area around us—“as sterile as the rest of this house. I wanted her to feel like it was hers. Give it her personality.”
My hands fisted at my sides. This house had cost me more money than she would ever make in this lifetime. Sarah had everything she could want. I’d made sure of it.
Belladonna started growling at me. Why did she always take Oakley’s side? I fed her. Paid for her expensive dog food and the even more expensive groomer she had to go to biweekly.
“You think painting a mural in her room of your backyard was giving it her personality?” I snapped.