Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
When we’re both finally dressed in Saturday casual which means jeans, boots, and a sweater for me and jeans, boots, and a snug tee for him, we decide to replay days of old and start the weekend with pancakes. Since Damion has none of the required supplies, we do the next best thing to cooking ourselves and order DoorDash. Soon, we’re sitting at the island, side-by-side, angled toward each other, sipping coffee, and one hundred percent downright pigging out. It’s hard to stop tasting, considering Damion ordered all kinds of pancakes to try and the delights include chocolate, whipped cream, cherries and the list goes on.
When we’ve sampled and sampled some more, and the eating begins to wind down, Damion shoves aside his empty plate, and fixes his attention on me, affection brimming from his eyes. “I’ve thought of our weekend pancakes often.”
“You have?” I ask, warmed with the idea, but still finding it hard to believe he was gone a decade and clung to me as readily as I did him.
“You have no idea all of the things I remember about you, Alana. About us.”
“Me too,” I say, sliding my half-empty plate aside and leaning in closer to him. Both of us have elbows on the table, leaning into our palms, and close to each other. “I kind of thought I was a little crazy to hang on like I did.”
His eyes glint with some emotion I cannot name. “Why did you?”
“I guess this, us, explains it, right?” I caress the dark stubble on his jaw, whiskers raspy my fingers. “But I just kept telling myself my lingering attachment to you was because I connected you to a happier period of my life. Other times I blamed you for making every other man seem less.”
He laughs, this low, sexy rumble of laughter I feel in every part of me. And this very reaction I feel in this moment, is right to my point I just made to him; no other man affects me so easily and completely. They never measured up.
“I feel the same, baby,” he says softly, his eyes tender, and while there has always been a hum of energy between us, I can feel the shift in us, the growing intimacy, that says we’re leaning into each other, rather than pulling away. Damion’s cellphone buzzes next to him where it rests on the counter and he straightens, glances at the message, his jaw ticketing with whatever he reads. He stares at his screen a moment and then punches in a reply.
He draws in a breath and sets his cell aside, his attention settling heavily on me. “We’ve talked about Caleb,” he begins, leading into something, clearly.
Dread fills me with where this conversation is headed and my spine is officially ramrod stiff. “What about him?”
“Desperate people do desperate things, baby. We’ve talked about this and it’s relevant now, more so than ever.”
“How?” I press.
“I met with Caleb last night and he made it crystal clear that my father is in that desperate state of mind. He’s going to do something that can’t be undone.”
Ice slides through me and I shiver inside. The obvious question would be: what? What will he do? But I already know enough to conjure plenty of dark options and not one of them are good, therefore I focus on what really matters. “How do we stop him?”
“The message Caleb delivered in that meeting to me from my father was as cut and dry as it gets. If I sell my stock and walk away, this ends. You and your family will then be safe and off my father’s radar.”
“Of course you don’t believe that, Damion.” I take one look at his guarded expression and gape at him. “Are you serious right now, Damion? You believe that? No. You don’t believe this, right?” He opens his mouth to answer and I can read what comes next and I am not going to like it. I throw my hand up stop sign fashion. “Oh my God. Damion. Think about this. He often dangled a carrot in front of you, made you chase it, and then ate it himself. This will be no different. You’ll hand everything over to him and then he’ll use me and my family to lure you back to the company. And if that happens, you’ll have no leverage. You’ll become whatever he wants you to become.”
He says nothing and that tells me everything. “This ends us. Why don’t you see that?” I slide off the chair and throw my hands up and turn away from him.
I’ve made it all of two steps when he pulls me around to him. “You do know you haven’t let me say one damn word, don’t you?”
“You said a lot of words without opening your mouth, Damion.”
He scowls and runs a hand through his hair, his hands planting on his hips. “I don’t know what you want me to say to you right now. I know more than anyone my father will fuck me, Alana, but I have to buy time and find another answer.”