Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
“We’re on our way,” he says before ending the call. I jerk my eyes from his hard-on. Then I remember.
“Oh. June.” I forgot about her. “Wait. We have to go see her?”
Maddox nods a yes at me. I fall back onto the bed. “I had plans to lose my virginity.” I pout openly.
“Not until you’ve made an honest man out of me,” Maddox tosses back. That has me back up onto my knees.
“Are you serious?!” I shout. “That’s forever away.” Okay, not really forever. It wasn't but a few hours ago I thought this was all happening fast; now it’s at a snail’s pace.
“Come.” He holds his hand out for me.
“Again?” I smirk as I put my hand in his. He pulls me from the bed. I wrap my arms around his neck. My feet are dangling off the floor.
“After we handle this, yes, again.” He kisses me before placing my feet on the floor. “Don’t worry, darling girl. There are plenty of ways we can pleasure each other before our wedding. I plan to show you each and every one of them.”
16
Maddox
Grant greets us at the door. “She’s in conference room A.”
“Would you get Luna something to eat?”
Luna grabs my suit coat. “Wait. Don’t you think I should go with you? The last time you faced her, she attacked you.”
“I think you might’ve been her target, darling girl.” I pull her hand off my sleeve and brush a soft kiss against her forehead. “I’ll be fine. If I need you, I’ll call.”
She lets Grant lead her away while I meet June. The thin woman stands as I enter. Her eyes are red and she sniffles slightly as I near the table. I gesture for her to sit down. “I understand we sat on a board together for the Arboretum.”
Her eyes light up. “So you do remember?”
I shake my head. “No.” There’s no point in giving her false hope. “Grant, my assistant, did some digging and unearthed that information for me.”
“Oh.” She slumps back into her chair. “Why am I here then?”
“Because I am about to be married and I want to do all that is in my power to ensure that my wife’s special day is unblemished.” I slide a portfolio down to her. “In there is a check that you can make out to whomever you like. It can go to a charity. You can send it to your own bank account. In exchange, you promise to never come within two miles of my wife.”
Her mouth drops open. “Two miles? That would require me to move out of the city.”
“In addition, I will drop all charges of assault,” I continue as if she hadn’t spoken. “If you choose not to sign, then I will be forced to pursue all legal action that is available as well as deploying any social power that the Castile name may have.”
She stares stonily at me with her arms crossed in front of her.
“I know what it is like to be obsessed with someone. I feel that way toward Luna. From the first moment I saw her, I had to have her. I didn’t care that she was following me. Every morning, I’d look for her and every evening I would fall asleep with her image in my dreams. If that is how it is for you, I sympathize, but you should know from your own feelings how consuming those emotions are. My advice to you is to find a new obsession—someone who returns your feelings with the same intensity. You’ll be much happier.”
She hesitates, but only for a moment. Then her hand comes out. I place a pen in her palm and she begins to sign. Grant’s very thorough, as is my team of attorneys, so it takes a few minutes before she’s done.
I gather up the papers and give her a brusque nod as she leaves. I lay the paperwork on Grant’s desk and go retrieve my wife to be.
“Ready, Luna?”
She looks up from her phone, her eyes bright, her lips curved into a gentle smile. “You’re done so soon?”
“Yes. There wasn’t much to say.”
Luna grabs her purse and joins me. “Did everything go okay?”
“Of course. Let’s go pick out your ring.”
I take her to the Mark Hotel and check in to our penthouse suite, which will serve as the basis for our wedding preparations. Grant texts me that the villa in Aix-en-Provence has been reserved for the honeymoon. Thirty acres of land with a pond and a pool is a perfect retreat for the two of us.
“They sell rings in a hotel?” Luna exclaims as I usher her through the double black doors leading into the tower room. The two-story suite has a dining room that seats twelve along with a full kitchen and access to a private rooftop terrace.
“They do for me,” I say. Sure enough, the living room with its twenty-six foot ceilings and atrium skylights has been transformed into a private shopping mall. There are racks of dresses, boxes of shoes, and trays of rings. I lead a slightly stunned Luna to a sofa.