Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
“Home,” he says again, like I know where home is. The only place I’ve ever known is the hospital and the Ward estate. That is my home. At least the only one I know of. I drop my head to look down at my hands. Jonas Willits. I still can’t wrap my mind around this. The man is richer than God. I’m not sure I have much of a choice when it comes to listening to him. He could take my son away from me.
That realization hits me hard. I know he’s taken him already. I had to chase after them. But he could really take him from me. A tear slips down my cheek.
“Please don’t take him from me. He’s all I have.”
Jonas lets out a curse. He’s out of his seat lifting me into his arms.
“Don’t cry, bunny.” The word bunny bounces around in my head. The way he said it sounds so familiar. Like I’ve heard it before. I drop my face into his neck, hiding there. “I won’t take him from you but he’s going home. Where he belongs.” Where he belongs. Not where I belong.
I close my eyes. The smell of Jonas is familiar, too. So many questions swirl around in my mind. How close had we been? Why did I wake up alone? Did I hate this man and run from him? I try and fight the questions off.
The reality of them is scary. Sometimes I wonder if my mind made me forget things to protect me. I read about that many times when I was trying to figure out why I couldn't remember.
“Promise it. I want your word. You’ll never keep me from him.”
“I’d never do that.”
I can hear the anger in his words. I relax a little. I know he thinks I’ve been keeping Jax from him. How is this possible? It is too much of a coincidence that Jax is his son and I work for the Wards. A family that he seems to be familiar with.
His hands move up and down my back. Even in his anger he is trying to soothe me. I keep my eyes closed, my body starting to feel heavy. I can’t be tired. Too much is going on. But as he holds me close, I feel sleep try to take me. I jerk awake when I feel my body move.
“Jax.” I open my eyes to see where my son is.
“He’s still asleep.”
I pull my head back to see Jonas has me in his arms as he makes his way down the stairs of the plane. I see a man in a suit has Jax in his car seat. He’s still out as the man carries him gently down the stairs behind us, doing his best to not wake him.
How long have I been asleep? I wonder.
“It was a short flight,” Jonas answers, making me realize I’ve spoken the words. It’s still night out.
“I can walk.” I try and put my feet down but he’s got them hooked over his arm.
“We’re here.” He stops walking and slowly puts me on my feet. “Take Jax around.” He motions to the man that’s holding Jax. “In.” He nods at the open door to the SUV, where another man in a suit is standing. They are everywhere.
I climb in as the other door opens, allowing the man to put Jax’s car seat inside. In record time he has it strapped in. It’s faster than I ever could have done it. I sit down next to Jax and put my hand on him, needing to touch my son. Jonas gets in beside me.
“Seat belt.” He reaches over me before I can move to grab it, pulling it over me and clipping it into place.
“Where are we?” I ask again. I don’t even know what state we’re in. His eyes lock with mine. My heart flutters, catching me off-guard. His eyes search my face, looking for something. An answer maybe? I don’t have those.
“Home,” he says again, putting his hand on my thigh in a possessive hold as the SUV pulls out of the empty airport.
Chapter 9
Jonas
I want to interrogate her, get an hour-by-hour report of exactly what happened since the accident. It seems like she’s surprised—not just that I’ve found her but my actual existence. Her eyes nearly fell out of her head when I mentioned I had the pink lemonade she liked stocked on the plane.
“How did you find the Wards?” I ask as the SUV rolls down the highway toward Darby’s luxurious prison.
“I needed a job.”
My fingers clench around her thigh. “What was it about the life you had with me that made you decide that working at a horse farm owned by strangers was better for you?”
She rubs her lips together, the pink appearing and disappearing in a way that shouldn’t be erotic but is. My hand nearly clamps against her pussy in an automatic reflex. Back before she left me, if she’d done that, I would have had her under me with her skirt up and my cock inside of her within five seconds flat. I pull my hand off her thigh and lace my fingers together so I don’t do something dumb. I want her to give me a reason to overlook this. I don’t want to be mad. I have a son. This is a time I should be celebrating, but underlying my newfound joy at seeing Darby alive and discovering I have a son is the ugly reminder that she’s been hiding from me for almost three years. I can forgive it, though, if she’s honest with me.