Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Fisting the comforter, I fought the moisture that burned at my eyes. I had to keep it together. Stay focused and stay the course.
This wasn’t about reconciling with Logan. There was nothing that could heal a wound that went that deep.
More than that, there was no way to undo what had already been done.
This was about my freedom. About recovering my life. About finding new direction.
I jolted when a minute later Logan strode back in. He carried the bags he’d dropped onto the floor and placed them next to me on the bed.
A frown pulled to my brow. “What’s this?”
“Do you plan to wear that dress forever? Or that tee? Not that I would mind all that much.” He cocked a grin at that.
Wings fluttered in my chest.
Crap.
I swallowed hard. “I guess not.”
“Then you’ll need more clothes.” He moved to the doorway then paused to look back at me. “What do you need on Jarek?”
Gulping, I forced myself to focus on the mission. “Everything. Anything. I just need to prove to my father the snake that he is.”
A difficult task when I’d been raised by a brood of vipers. Crimes expected. Cruelty required.
In the end, it would be Jarek’s loyalty that counted.
“That should be easy enough.”
“I’m afraid there won’t be anything easy about this.”
Jarek would kill anyone that threatened his position in the family. My father had no sons, and his brother was dead thanks to the man in front of me, which meant Jarek was next in line to take his place as the boss once he passed.
He would be none too keen when he found out my intention was to take that from him.
If I knew him well enough, he’d think at any time, I’d come crawling back, and I doubted he’d say much to my father, considering he was the one who’d made this dirty, messy bed.
I prayed that and my father’s promise would give me time.
“Are you okay with that?” I pressed.
Logan shrugged too casual a shoulder. “He took what was mine. It seems only fair I take it back.”
He started to duck out only to pause, hesitate, then stare back at me as if he wasn’t sure about what he was getting ready to say. “I have a family thing tonight. Be ready at six. Pick something a little more…practical?”
Confusion bound, but I nodded quickly.
Dipping his head, he stepped out and shut the door.
I dug into the bags.
Jeans and tees.
Sweaters and a coat.
Boots.
A few more dresses as beautiful as the one I’d worn last night.
Toiletries and makeup and undergarments.
I tossed the lid off a box to find a silk night slip.
It was white and covered in the soft innuendo of stars woven into the material.
My spirit clutched.
Like a fool, I pressed it to my nose and stared at the door where he’d just been.
Little Star. Little Star.
Damn him.
I had to be careful, or he was going to ruin me all over again.
EIGHT
ASTER
I emerged from the bedroom at six, wearing black leather pants, a purple sweater that was slinky and loose but hung just right, and a pair of knee-high heeled boots.
I had a heavy gray wool coat draped over my arm and a handbag that was mostly empty slung over my shoulder.
If there was something to be said about Logan Lawson, he had really good taste.
Coming to the end of the hall, I stalled.
My nerves rattled.
Logan hadn’t given me a whole lot to go on other than he had a family thing.
A family thing.
Anxiety bristled beneath my skin. Like, with his brothers? Their families?
The little boy’s face tickled the back of my mind. The sweetness. The way Logan had looked at him.
Undoubtedly, the child, Logan’s entire family, was a huge piece of his world.
I got it.
I just wasn’t sure why he wanted to share it with me.
The only thing I knew was I felt his attention like a landslide when I stepped out from behind the seclusion of the hall and into the main room.
Logan looked up from where he stood at the end of the island typing something on his phone.
The man was so disgustingly gorgeous in his fitted suit.
Intimidating.
Jaw-dropping.
Those eyes flashed as they took me in.
Copper and green.
Stony.
Malachite.
Though tonight they were far from opaque.
They glinted in the flames that leapt in the fireplace.
Scorching rocks that could sear me through.
Fiddling with the hem of my sweater, I glanced down at what I’d chosen. “Is this okay?”
“It will do.” His tone was grit.
He pushed from the island and came my way.
A slow prowl, a monster testing its prey.
He stopped a foot away, and he tipped up my chin, deceptively soft. “They say the devil is so beautiful you wouldn’t be able to look at him if you saw him in his original form.”
My insides quaked. I was pretty sure he had our roles reversed.
“And you have a hard time looking at me.” Still, I let him have the perception.