Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
Besides, Kelsey Lane, the team publicist, and Camila Gomes, Theo's personal publicist, released statements this morning about the photos. And I now know for sure that the woman in them is Charlotte. They didn't release her name, but the statements called her the love of Theo's life. All I had to do was look up her social media to confirm she's the same girl from the photos.
The race is officially on to find her name, and so far, I'm the only one who seems to know it. I can't sit on it forever. If someone releases it before I do, Darren will lose his mind, and I lose my job. But I'm sitting on it anyway. Because I know the second I release it, I prove to Jonas that he was right about me all along. I am the enemy.
Jonas: Jamie?
Me: I get off at five.
Jonas: Have dinner with me.
Jonas: Please.
Me: Um, are you sure that's a good idea?
Jonas: I think it's the best idea I've had since I kissed you last night.
Me: I don't know about that. The flowers are beautiful…
Jonas: I want to apologize in person. Please?
Me: What are you apologizing for, exactly?
Jonas: Calling you the enemy. It was a shitty thing to say. I want to make it up to you.
My stomach clenches. He isn't sending me flowers and inviting me to dinner because he feels the same way I do about him. Of course he doesn't. To him, I'll always be the annoying reporter who dishes on gossip and asks too many questions. He's trying to smooth it over so I don't tell the world he was in a sex club last night.
Me: It's fine, really. Thanks for the invitation and the flowers, but I don't think dinner is a good idea.
Me: And don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. You can relax.
Jonas: That's not why I'm asking.
Me: I have to go. Bye, Jonas.
I quickly silence my phone and shove it into my bag before pressing my hands to my stomach. It aches as if I ate something that isn't sitting right with it. I guess a cold, hard dose of reality will do that to you.
"I'm never going to another sex club ever again," I mutter to myself.
"Crap," I whisper, coming to a dead stop when I see Jonas leaning up against the side of my car in the parking lot. Even with a hat pulled down to obscure his face and sunglasses on, there's no mistaking him. He's too darn big to hide. And too damn beautiful.
He's all rugged, masculine grace dressed up in jeans and a blue Henley. The fabric hugs his broad frame, clinging to the brawny muscles it encases. And good grief, the man is all muscle. Every inch of him is hewn from thick slabs of defined muscle like Glycon's Farnese Hercules sculpture. Only he's not cold, lifeless marble. He's hot-blooded, warm, and vital.
When he had his arms around me last night, for a moment, I knew what heaven felt like. When his lips touched mine, for a moment, I knew what it tasted like too. And then reality knocked me back down to earth.
I slowly make my way toward him, my heart pounding against my ribcage.
"If my boss sees you out here, we'll be the next big story," I say when I reach him.
"Fuck your boss."
My eyes widen as his prowl all over my body as if he can't keep them off me.
"You're ignoring my texts," he growls.
"I'm… I am," I say instead of lying to him.
"You're mad at me."
"No." I quickly shake my head. "I'm not mad at you."
"Then why are you ignoring me?"
I bite my lip, deliberating. What is it about him that makes me want to spill all my darkest secrets? I feel comfortable in my own skin around him in a way that's unusual. I've always been curvy, and I never cared about that. My worth isn't tied up in my weight or the size of my ass, despite what society might want me to think. And God knows, they want me to think it. Especially doing what I do. I never read comments because of the vitriol spewed about my weight. But with Jonas, it goes deeper than simply being comfortable with my own body. I feel…safe in a way I never have before him. Like I can be myself and say what's on my mind.
I don't feel like I have to edit every word that comes out of my mouth.
"I don't want to be an apology date, Jonas," I say quietly. "You may think I'm the bad guy or that I set out to ruin lives because of my job, but that isn't who I am. I have no interest in unmasking anyone who was at that club last night, least of all you."