Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 100608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“Your parents weren’t worried?” I ask.
“Back then, I was always running around. My dad was busy running his company. Mom had Shelly and Callan to look after. I wasn’t missed.”
“And the other guy?”
“His dad went out looking for him, wasted beyond belief, and ran into three cars. When he got out, he tried to beat up the guy in one of the cars saying he started it. Police nabbed him and sent his ass to prison.”
“Did the guy hate you after that?”
“Nah,” Dante says with a smile in his voice. “By then, I wore him down and made him my friend. He’d just turned eighteen. Didn’t have anywhere else to go. My dad let him stay with us after that. And when it came time for college, a ‘mystery donor’ paid for his tuition at the same college I was attending.”
“Your dad?”
“Yeah.”
“Your dad seemed like a cool guy to take him in like that.”
“Dad loved Adrian like a son. Even let him intern at his company after college. Adrian did everything he could to please my father, but Dad knew he wasn’t interested in the work he did. There were other passions that Adrian kept hidden in his efforts to please.”
“Did he encourage Adrian to chase those dreams?”
Dante laughs. “Adrian would have denied having dreams at all. Dad fired him.”
“What? That’s cruel.”
“He also got him a job at a city magazine working for one of the most brilliant men in New York.”
“Was Adrian mad?”
“No, Adrian loved it. I’d never seen him smile before. Ever. My best friend is serious all the time. But, while working for that magazine, he was truly happy. Everett, the man who ran the magazine company, appreciated Adrian so much that when he retired, he sold the company to Adrian for a ridiculously low price.”
“And now?”
“He was happy for a long time, but…”
“But?”
“I think once Adrian realizes he can go after what he truly wants, he’ll be happy. He’s been so disciplined in doing what it takes to please those above him, he never pleases himself.”
“All this because you locked him in the locker room. That was a dick move, by the way,” I tease, chuckling.
“That dick move gave me a friend who got me through the hardest times of my life. When Mom died. When Toby broke off the wedding and dumped me. Then when Dad died and I became guardian of Callan.”
“Sounds like a good friend. You miss him. I can tell.”
“Yeah,” Dante says. “I do.”
“Maybe you should call him,” I ponder aloud. “Another life crisis and all.”
He squeezes my middle and his lips find my neck. “Nah, I have you now. And at least you suck dick.”
I smack his arm and we both laugh, but my chest does puff out a little.
I’m the person helping him through a hard time.
Me.
I mean something to Dante Kincaid, which means I cannot fuck this up between us. I’ll need to figure my shit out so I can find a way to keep him.
Dante
The gazebo fire nearly did me in. I was losing my shit, barely holding it together for my family, when my knight in not-so-shiny armor showed up with a fierce need to protect. It wasn’t until we were alone that I was able to fall apart.
Guilt weighs heavily on my shoulders, making them physically ache. Brigs Ferry Bay was supposed to be our new beginning. We were supposed to make a new, wholesome, healthy life here. It was where we were supposed to settle.
Instead, I feel more unsettled than I have my entire life.
We’re being targeted by a homophobic psycho. The townspeople aren’t welcoming to the new business owners. And Jax is everything I crave and need but will never fully have.
“Look at me,” Jax rumbles, his brown eyes darting back and forth as he tries to search my mind through my eyes like they’re windows to my soul. “Everything is going to be okay.”
His reassurance has me melting. I reach up and stroke a strand of his hair from his brow. It’s messy from being out in the wind as he worked the crime scene. The scent of smoke should make my stomach recoil, but instead, it makes me want to inhale him.
“Right now, it feels that way.”
His smile is sweet and heartwarming. “Let me take care of you.”
I know he means right now, but my heart hears them as forever.
Warm lips meet mine, chasing away any doubt-filled thoughts. All I know now is Jax’s pine and smoke scent. His reverent yet rough touch. The small groans of desire he spills into my mouth as we kiss.
I could get lost in him.
Hell, I already have.
This past month has been a whirlwind—all wrapped up on Jax.
With nothing but our underwear between us, I can feel every groove and vein on his thick cock. Pre-cum dots the fabric of my boxers. I shamelessly lift my hips, eager for the friction his body creates with mine.