Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
“I won’t pass out on you again, I promise,” he says firmly, glancing around absently like I’ll have a letter opener lying handy before he decides to tear open the envelope with his thumb.
The change in him is obvious.
One second he’s a groggy, dazed man with a head wound, then next, he’s a man with a purpose.
A man who knows what he wants.
“Steven Carter…,” he says knowingly. Thoughtfully. Out loud in a low, gravelly voice, he spots his name on the check he’s produced from his pocket.
He even taps the heavy paper to his lips as if it might give him more information.
More than just a name, though.
When his eyes meet mine again, they’re almost totally blank.
“Steven Carter,” I affirm, almost congratulating him on his win. But he’s not sharing my enthusiasm.
I reel in shock when he turns the check so I can see it pinched between his huge fingers.
“Steven Carter,” he echoes back to me.
“And a check for one million dollars,” he adds, his shoulders slumping under a weight I can’t see but feel instantly.
I want to tell him about his wallet and how I’ve held something so small but so mighty from him.
But I just can’t right now.
He’s not just a magnificent man. Not just someone who needs my help.
He’s rich.
Very rich
It should complicate things for me, but it makes sense in so many ways.
It’s all so simple.
Whoever he is, he’s the perfect man.
Of course, he has money. His powers don’t stop at killer good looks and a body to die for.
But the question in his eyes isn’t asking who he is so much. Rather, it’s demanding to know exactly what I’m thinking.
Why on earth would someone stalk the winter streets gathering cash on their way someplace when they have a million-dollar check?
And here we are. The moment I should tell him that I probably have every answer he needs right in my damned purse.
But I can’t.
I can’t let him know what I know now.
It’s too late.
“What is it?” he asks me, his mouth creasing at the thought of me maybe not wanting him for his money, but I know better.
“It’s nothing,” I bluff, reaching over and squeezing his huge forearm.
“With this check, you should be able to find out who you really are in no time… Probably by looking up who it’s made out to,” I offer as an afterthought.
“… You’ll probably hate the fact you came so far to find out,” I add.
I feel treacherous myself, but I’m trapped now.
How could I tell him? How can I?
He’d be gone in a New York minute.
And I can’t bear the thought.
I’ve only just met the man of my dreams, and there’s no way I could go on if he left.
Plus, this mystery of who he is and why he had so much money is kinda interesting.
It’s just not the kind of thing that happens to a girl who is having the worst day of her life.
Sitting himself up a little better, the whole frame of the couch where I sleep groans under his weight.
“Maybe I don’t wanna know who I am just yet,” he confides to me, a mischievous look passing over his features until he sets it firm again.
My heart leaps in my chest, and I seriously start to wonder if my newest house guest might just be thinking the same things I am.
He couldn’t be, though.
He wasn’t hit on the head hard enough to fall for the first girl he saw, especially me.
But that thick line at the front of his pants is no trick of the light.
He’s someone, whoever he is.
And he’s all man.
That’s for sure.
CHAPTER FIVE
Steve
Seeing my name should ring a bell. It should trigger something, but it doesn’t. Not really.
And the million-dollar thing?
Somehow that doesn’t even mean a lot either right now.
The only thing it makes me think of when I see my name is putting Holly’s name in front of mine.
Mrs. Holly Carter.
The thought makes more than just my mouth curve too.
The thought of lifting her out of this slum and putting her on the throne she deserves, the throne I don’t even remember I have someplace….
That makes me happier than I’ve ever felt.
Ever.
That much I do know. Memory not required.
It’s like losing my memory has revealed my whole, true life purpose.
But why’s she being so coy? Surely she’s aware of this electricity between us.
She’s seen my own body’s reaction to hers already. Why so tame, though?
“I’d… I…,” she stammers, flushing red and making me lean over toward her.
Eager to get closer.
“What is it?” I ask, taking her tiny chin between my thumb and forefinger.
Adoring the way she looks up at me with those crystal clear, deep baby blues.
“I was hoping you’d maybe stay a while,” she murmurs, almost laughing but stopping herself.
Blushing harder.
Both of us feeling that thing again. This undeniable energy between us.