Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
A woman who’ll make me want her with everything I have.
“I didn’t say I tried recently.”
“Don’t you want a family?” Julian asks. “Kids?”
“I want kids,” I tell him gruffly. “But I’m not going to meet and marry some woman I don’t love just to get there.”
“It’s like you think you’re just going to, what, poof, like magic, fall in love.”
I turn back to him. He’s staring at me with his arms spread like he’s pleading with me to see sense. It’s not the first time we’ve had this conversation about family, about finding a wife.
But there’s no way for me to explain it to him. It wouldn’t be fair to a woman unless I feel it, the lightning strike or maybe the magic like he said.
“I don’t know,” I sigh. “But I can’t fake it. I won’t. It wouldn’t be fair to anybody. Let’s say I marry some woman I’m only half sure about, and then I get bored and become distant. I might inflict that on her, my kids, or my whole life.”
“Do you really think you’d do that?”
There it is again, that stuff from when I was a kid. My ability to detach, like my mind, was an orb, and I could throw it out of my head.
It lets hours pass like minutes or minutes like hours. It allows me to dream I was someplace else.
Free. Not caged in.
“I’m scared I might,” I say quietly. “That’s why I have to be sure.”
Julian nods. “I get it. But please, no more videos until the deal is finalized?”
“No more videos,” I nod. “But I can’t stop altogether. I’d go insane.”
“I know you would,” Julian chuckles. “I might join you for a ski weekend or something next week.”
“You should,” I say firmly.
The sad truth is that Julian’s relationship with me has become distant lately, especially in the last five years when he was spending a lot of time overseas, heading up our smaller UK office.
It’s understandable. He has a wife, two kids, and a whole life to be lived.
“One more thing,” Julian says in that evasive way that tells me he’s not coming skiing.
But again, I get this. If I had a family I cared about and was dedicated to, like Julian’s, then I wouldn’t mind staying home, either. He can’t just take off, mainly because he can’t simply uproot himself or his family to spend days at the ski lodge whenever he likes.
“Lay it on me,” I say.
“I told Lauren I’d show her your office. The view. She hasn’t seen it since she was little – when we first moved into this building.”
The last time I saw Lauren was at her fifteenth or sixteenth birthday party. I don’t remember much about her, except for how happy she was with the painting set somebody gave her.
She seemed shy, too, hiding in the corner at her own party, focused on her art.
“Sure,” I shrug, walking around the desk and dropping into my seat, stroking Buster when he comes over. “Is she still doing her art?”
“She’s training to be a tattooist,” Julian says proudly. “Well…if you consider practicing on yourself training.”
I laugh. My arms and much of my body are covered in tattoos, the same as Julian’s, except his sleek suit hides his, and my sport polo doesn’t.
“That’s some serious dedication. When does she want to see it?”
“She’s here now. I’ll just give her a quick look if that’s okay?”
“Of course.”
I take the tennis ball again, tossing it to Buster, as Julian walks across the office and opens the door.
Buster brings the ball back, but I can’t throw it or do anything except stare.
She’s walking toward me, the woman I’ve dreamed of.
She’s taking shape.
The best kind…curvy, her breasts pressed against her hoodie, her thick gorgeous thighs trapped in her jeans. Her face is exquisite, eyes wide, with a little twist to her mouth like she’s hiding a secret or getting ready to laugh.
Her hair begs for me to run my fingers through it, brown and wavy to her shoulders.
“See, Lauren,” Julian says, waving a hand at the window. “They’re as big as you remember.”
I drop the tennis ball.
Lauren looks over, raising her hand with a smile. “Hello, Mr. Stone.”
I clear my throat.
This is bad. This is wrong.
This woman can’t be Julian’s daughter.
My woman can’t be….
Fate can’t be that cruel.
“Hello, Lauren.”
CHAPTER
TWO
Lauren
“Oh, hello, little guy.”
I kneel and stroke Buster behind the ear. I’d met him at the dog park with Dad and Silas once, but I don’t think Silas even noticed me.
But as I stroke his dog, I can feel him staring at me from the desk, across the wide office, like he’s pissed at me for being here.
He sits up, his silver hair catching the light, his tattooed arms stretching the seams of that sports polo. The top button is undone, showing a glimpse of his inked chest too.