Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
What I see has me dropping to my knees next to Jenna. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
With her head still down, and her voice muffled, she asks. “Did you look at it?”
I take my hand and start to rub her back. I don’t know what happened from the point I left to go outside to now, but I’m not having it. Whatever upset her, I’ll take care of it. “Your car? Yes. No tracking devices. What happened?”
She lifts her head, but half her face is still covered by the smooth strands of her dark brown hair. “No, not my car. The picture. Did you look at it? Because if you did, I’m probably never going to be able to look you in the eye again.”
I can’t resist running my fingers through her hair. I tuck the long strands behind one ear and force her to look up at me. “Jenna, I’m a professional. When I look at your picture it will be for pure investigative purposes, that’s it. I promise you.”
She rolls her eyes. “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
I blow out a big breath. Time to be honest with her. “Look, I’ll admit, I’m attracted to you.” Her eyes widen, and when she starts to shake her head, I put one hand on her chin to hold her still. “I’d be lying if I told you I don’t want to see you.” I clear my throat. My cock is already pressing against my zipper just thinking about it. “But the way those pictures were taken, well, I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m going to only compare the angle of the picture to the angle of where I find the camera. That’s it. I’ll give you the picture back. I’m going to scrub the images from the device in your apartment and wherever they’re hosted at. That’s it.”
She still isn’t comfortable. It’s obvious, but I don’t know what else I can say to make her feel all right with all of it. I hate that this Paul did this to her. I expect her to argue with me or try to talk me out of looking at the camera images, but she doesn’t. She surprises me when she sits up. “You’re attracted to me?”
Fuck, I want to kiss her. I could do it too. Prove just how attracted I am to her. But she deserves better than that. I know she does. And that’s the only thing stopping me at this point. I stand up, pulling her from the seat. I put one hand on her shoulder and the other at the base of her neck. I lean down, so we’re eye level. “Yeah, I’m attracted to you. And if we didn’t have this thing with Paul and the fact that your brother sent me here to protect you... well, I’d show you.”
She wants me to kiss her. The way she’s looking at me, she might as well be begging for it. I want to. Fuck, I want to. But I don’t. My need for wanting to do things right by her is overwhelming, and I won’t allow myself a kiss. Maybe because I know it won’t stop with just one kiss. No, I’m not doing this until I have things settled with her ex and talk to her brother. After that, there’s nothing that will stop me.
I lean forward and pull her to my chest. I bury my nose in the top of her head, breathing in the scent of honeysuckle and sweet vanilla. Her arms go around my waist, and I hold her there, not wanting to let her go. Because I can’t resist, I press my lips to the crown of her head. She inhales deeply, her body trembling against mine. Right now, she probably thinks I’m a sweet guy. But I’m not. I’m far from it. I’ve done things that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I’m thinking about all the things I want to do to her, and every image is of her naked while I hold on to her hips as I move in and out of her. Yeah, I’m not a good man. But she makes me want to be better.
I rest my cheek on her head. “Are you ready to go?”
She mutters yeah, but she doesn’t move.
I smile. “Can I take you to dinner before we go to your apartment?”
And just like that, I can feel her walls coming up. She pulls from my arms. “Can we order a pizza or something? I’d convinced myself that the picture was taken from a window or something. But now, the thought of a camera... well, I just want it out.”
She’s shaken up, and soon she’ll know that whatever she asks of me, I’ll do for her. “Absolutely, let’s go.”
I follow her out of the office and stand to the side while she says goodbye to Madison, Story, and the night manager. When she’s done whispering with Madison, I hold her hand and walk her out the front doors. “This way.”