Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
It had been four years since he went to prison, and I was still so angry with him for what he’d done. He ruined everything by getting sent away, by letting his own impulsive actions separate us.
“I don’t want to talk about him,” I said, keeping my voice gentle so that Uncle Logan would know that I wasn’t mad at him. I understood that he was just trying to keep his brother in the loop. “Please, can we just not?”
“Of course.” If he was disappointed in my request, he didn’t show it. He finished his coffee and then pulled away from me, taking his empty mug into the kitchen.
“What are your plans for the day?” he asked upon returning to the living room.
I shrugged. “Not sure. Maybe read for a while or watch a movie.”
“You can try.” He grimaced. “The wi-fi’s been pretty spotty. Don’t worry, I already ordered a new router with a mesh system that should cover the whole house.”
“I guess we’re lucky that you’re such a technical genius.” I wasn’t exaggerating. He had made a literal fortune in the tech industry. After working as a software engineer for a big tech company, he left to start his own software business where he designed a healthcare revenue management platform that was adopted by hospitals and doctors’ offices around the country. He’d stepped down from the CEO position a year ago, giving him more free time to pursue his passion projects, but he continued to serve on the board and hold shares in the company.
Like the computer geek that he was, the first thing he did after he bought the new house was outfit it with the most up-do-date and expensive smart home technology. Everything here, from the outdoor hot tub to the wine fridge, could be controlled from his smartphone.
“I’m going to work out downstairs,” he said. I hadn’t noticed until that moment that he was already dressed in his workout clothes, a blue muscle shirt and black gym shorts.
“Come get me if you need anything,” he said, planting a kiss on my forehead.
As he pulled away, I let my gaze trail over his muscular arms and broad chest. He’d had the basement converted to a full-scale gym shortly after we moved in, claiming that exercise helped him solve complicated coding challenges. Personally, I preferred to work through my mental blocks in the shower. My gaze drifted lower, to the front of his gym shorts. I hadn’t meant to look there, but I couldn’t help noticing a distinctly shaped bulge pulling at the fabric.
My cheeks flamed as I tore my gaze away from his groin. I forced myself to nod in acknowledgement of what he’d said, then turned my attention back to the window to avoid looking at him.
Please, God, don’t let him have noticed where I was staring.
His footsteps receded, heading toward the basement stairs.
I rubbed my eyes, wondering why in the hell had I zeroed in on that part of his body? If I was honest with myself, this wasn’t the first time I’d noticed my uncle’s good looks. But appreciating his appearance didn’t mean anything, right? It wasn’t a crime to recognize high cheekbones or a strong jawline, or how devilishly handsome he looked when he forgot to schedule a haircut.
Yet the way that my body responded—a growing pressure in my lower belly—as I recalled the bulge in his shorts made my skin burn ten degrees hotter. I was turned-on by the thought of him being aroused, the way reading a spicy scene in a romance novel made me squeeze my thighs together. How messed up was that?
I needed a distraction.
Recalling what Logan had said about the spotty wi-fi, I decided to reach for a book instead of trying to stream something. Swooning over a well-endowed, emotionally tortured Fae prince or two who weren’t related to me seemed like an appropriate alternative.
But first, I opened the sliding-glass door and let the cold air wash over me, cooling my skin and chasing the illicit heat from my body.
3
HAILEE
I settled onto a chaise in the den with a thick paperback, expecting to be swept away by the fantastical smut. After fifteen minutes, I closed the book with a sigh. My mind was too scattered to follow the story.
After my conversation with Uncle Logan this morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about my dad, specifically what he’d said about my grades. As much as I didn’t want to admit that I cared about his opinion, knowing he was proud of me made me feel more proud of myself. I drew my hair back into a makeshift ponytail. My feelings for him were complicated and not something I wanted to deal with on a Tuesday afternoon.
I rose from the chaise and slowly paced the den, scanning my uncle’s collection of classic literature and books about technology and economics. With the mahogany bookshelves and dark leather furniture, the room easily could have felt claustrophobic. But the floor-to-ceiling windows let in so much natural light that I didn’t need to switch on a lamp to read comfortably. Outside, it had stopped snowing, and I wondered what the weather was like in Northern California where my dad was imprisoned.