Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 30692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 153(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 102(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 153(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 102(@300wpm)
The tall, dark-haired man in the front removed his glasses and stuck them in his breast pocket. “Ready to go?” he asked. Then his eyes strayed over my shoulder, and he raised an eyebrow. “Samantha, I presume?”
I exhaled in frustration and stepped back to allow the men to enter. “Baby, this is Tucker Carrington,” I introduced him. “Tucker, Samantha.”
Tucker nodded in greeting. “I mean no offense, Samantha,” he grunted, then looked at me. “But what is she doing here? If Cheryl sees her—”
“I know,” I interrupted harshly. “She figured it out and came here to bust me for being a fucking asshole, and rightfully so.”
“She is right here,” Samantha chimed in, clearly exasperated. “Now, will someone fill me in, please?” Her sugary tone was laced with steel. Not only was I proud of her for being a badass but my cock hardened to stone.
“No time to explain right now,” muttered Tucker. “We need to go.”
Samantha put her hands on her hips and lifted her chin stubbornly. “Not without me.”
Tucker rolled his eyes, but the corners of his lips tipped up. “She reminds me of Eva,” he grunted, referring to his wife. “She can ride with me. I’ll be staying out of sight anyway.” He gestured to the men with him. “Phin and Donovan will shadow you until the time is right.”
I turned and closed the distance between me and Samantha, wrapping her in my arms. “Let’s get this shit done and over with,” I murmured. “Then you can yell at me as much as you want before I take you to bed and fuck you until we both pass out.”
Samantha’s blue orbs darkened, and she licked her lips, making me groan and drop my face into the crook of her neck.
After inhaling her mouthwatering scent for a moment, I straightened and took her hand, leading her to my garage. “I’ll leave first,” I told her. “Then you follow with Tucker. If she’d seen you arrive, it’s likely she would have messaged me already.”
“Time to get going, Bardot,” Tucker announced. “I’ll fill her in on the rest.”
I kissed my woman fast but deep, a promise of things to come, then got into my car and headed back to the city.
The plane ticket we’d found had been a lucky break, but we still hadn’t come up with any verifiable proof that she was stalking me and threatening Samantha. So we devised a plan. Rather than responding to the messages, I reached out to her as if I had no clue she was behind the texts. Playing to her ego.
I’d told her I’d rethought things and convinced Landon to hire her back. I insinuated that the project had gone to shit after she left, and I needed her. She’d been receptive to my ruse and agreed to meet with me at my office to get her rehire paperwork straightened out and go over solutions for the project. Then I’d dropped subtle hints about going to dinner afterward.
The goal was to convince her to confess to the stalking so I could get a restraining order at the very least. However, as unhinged as she seemed, I hoped she’d admit to conspiracy to commit murder.
When I arrived at JB Capital, I parked in my spot and rode the elevator up to my floor. A few minutes later, Phin and Donovan came in from the stairwell and disappeared into the shadows. Then I paced inside my office until the lift dinged. I sat behind my desk and pretended to look busy until Cheryl came sashaying into the room.
I almost rolled my eyes when I got a good look at her getup. She was wearing a pencil skirt with a slit that went all the way up to her pelvis, a silky button-up blouse, stilettos, and she’d fashioned her suddenly blond hair into a neat little bun.
She was dressed like Samantha. The woman is completely delusional.
“Cheryl,” I greeted her with a warm smile. “Thank you so much for giving me a second chance.”
“Of course, James,” she purred as she lowered herself into a chair. Cheryl wasn’t a big woman, but she didn’t have the slim, athletic build that made an outfit like that look good. Everything was just a little too snug, and when she sat, I worried that she was going to bust a seam and I’d have to bleach my eyes.
“I guess I was just blinded by my feelings for that woman.”
Cheryl’s red lips curled into a sympathetic smile. “We all make mistakes, James.”
I adopted a sad, puppy dog expression to cover up my cringe because I fucking hated the way she said my name.
“I’m here now. We’ll work all of this out together.”
Nodding, I stared at my desk and hunched my shoulders, knowing the position would make me look as if I were ashamed. “I’m worried, though,” I said quietly. “I think she’s stalking me.”