Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 75519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
There was so much I yearned to say.
So much I desired him to hear.
Instead, I blinked and then everything went…
Black.
The next thing I knew, my eyes were flickering open from the bright, bold sun.
“Oh, God…” I moaned, dizzy and disoriented.
Instantly, I grabbed the pillow, and wrapped it around my throbbing head. Desperately trying to remember what happened last night.
All of a sudden, I heard, “Splitting headache?”
Startling me to sit straight up.
“See, Cherry,” Adrian reprimanded as our gazes connected. “That’s what happens when you drink your weight in liquor.” He was sitting in the armchair near his bed.
I couldn’t help but ask, “Have you been there all night?”
He nodded with a blazing fire in his regard.
For some reason, I looked down at my body, noticing I wasn’t wearing my dress, just his shirt.
“What happened?”
“You mean besides you throwing up on yourself?”
I grabbed my face. “Oh, God.” Suddenly mortified. “Where’s Cade?”
“Lucky for you, he crashed at Hayley’s last night.”
I fell back against his headboard, unable to hold myself up anymore. Feeling the relief of not getting caught with my best friend’s brother.
“I’m just going to sit here and die of humiliation.”
“Your dress is washed. Although, I do prefer my shirt on you.”
Peeking through my fingers, I questioned, “You took my dress off?”
“Mmm hmm. Don’t worry, Cherry. I looked but I didn’t touch.”
“Kill me now.” I squeezed my eyes shut, praying this was only dream and wasn’t actually happening.
I couldn’t look at him. All I wanted to do was disappear. Fade into the comforter as if I didn’t make an absolute ass of myself last night. I opened my mouth to say something, but quickly shut it, not knowing what to apologize for.
The sound of him shuffling across the room made me open my eyes.
“Here,” he coaxed from above me.
He was holding a glass of ice water and some buttered toast. I sluggishly sat up, grabbed the water, and gulped it down. Welcoming the cool sensation in my throat and stomach.
“Take it easy or you’ll make yourself sick.” His eyes bared an emotion I couldn’t quite place, hitting me like a freaking freight train.
“Oh my God.” It was all I needed for the memories to come back to me. “I walked in on you with some girl, didn’t I?”
“More like barged.”
Image by image played out until I remembered what I least expected.
My eyes widened as I blurted, “You kissed me.”
He backed away. “Excuse me?”
“You kissed me,” I repeated, louder.
“Finish eating and get dressed,” was all he said. “Cade will be home soon. You need to leave before he gets here.”
Not pausing for my reply, he spun, walking toward the door.
Again, I couldn’t help myself. “So you’re just going to ignore the fact you kissed me last night?”
He stopped dead in his tracks.
I lingered.
And waited.
Until he finally turned around, locking his once again cold, dark demeanor toward me.
“Cade—”
“Go home, Paige. You can keep dreaming about me kissing you.”
I winced, but he was unaffected, not caring one bit.
Did I imagine it?
The uncertainty played with my mind for I don’t know how long.
Then all of a sudden, he spoke with conviction. “You’re my brother’s best friend. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
With that, he left.
Except this time…
He took my heart with him.
Eleven
Adrian
Now
Iwas sitting at the head of the rectangle table in the middle of the room with Paige sitting beside me at this morning’s meeting. The table was filled with the company’s six board members, who had no idea I was there to divide and conquer.
I waited a very long time for this moment, and I couldn’t have been more pleased it was happening with Paige sitting beside me.
I’d been buying this business’s stocks for over a year. However, I wasn’t doing this for anyone but Paige. This was solely for her. Every business decision I’d made since I started taking control of this enterprise was to show her my worth. She was the only reason I wanted their CEO’s balls on a silver fucking platter.
I spent the last three months in his territory, making sure I knew everything I needed for today to go off without a hitch. I met their CEO a few times. The fucking prick rubbed me the wrong way since our first encounter. The last thing I wanted was to hurt Paige, but in this hostile takeover, the pain would lead to the healing she still needed.
My plate was already full. I didn’t need any more shit piling up. Although, I had to give him some credit. The man had some brass balls for walking in late to our scheduled conference. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to shake his hand for it. He’d yet to figure out who he was fucking with.
With each stride that led their CEO to sit on the opposite end of the table, parallel to me, I felt Paige tense further into oblivion. Wanting to give her a bit of comfort, I placed my hand on her thigh under the table. Upon impact, she subtly jumped, but never removed my hand.