Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Chapter Thirteen
SADIE
I’m not sure how long we’ve been in this bed, but I think the sun has been up and down a few times. This is the first time I’ve woken before Ari, and my whole body tingles. Normally he's waking me up with food or his mouth. It’s almost as if he’s too good to be true.
Staring at his handsome face, I watch his chest slowly rise and fall, and then I smile when I notice I left a love bite on his neck. I really had no idea this kind of thing could be real, and I wonder if this is love. It has to be, right? We haven’t said those words, but he told me that this is forever.
These past few days, we’ve been lost in our own little bubble, and I don’t want to leave. We can't stay here forever, and there was a reason I came here to begin with.
My dad.
There has to be something I’m missing because I can feel it down to my bones. I’m not sure what it is, but I need to find out. Ari told me he’d show me everything, but then we both got a little distracted.
I don’t want to leave the bed, but this is the perfect moment. As soon as Ari wakes up, I’ll forget about anything else, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I love that he can take over, and he’s all I see or think about. I get to let go when I’m with him, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever known.
Gently and slowly, I untangle myself from his hold. I didn’t think men were into cuddling, but that is not the case with Ari. He can’t seem to get enough of me when I’m popping off at the mouth. Instead of getting irritated with me, it only makes him chuckle or give me one of his handsome smirks that melts me on the spot.
He’s turned me into a marshmallow, and I guess I’m a bit more like my father than I realized. It’s actually remarkable that my dad has put up with so much from my mother but still finds it in his heart to not harden and become a bitter and resentful person. I thought that’s what I was doing, but Ari has melted some of that away for me.
Ari is the first person I’ve let slip past my walls, and honestly, I’m not sure I let him. He kidnapped me and then bulldozed right through them. I could tell from his mom’s face when she saw a woman in his home that it was surprising.
I’m kind of glad I didn’t dig deeper into their family before I broke into their offices. At the time, I was only focused on getting what I needed and getting out.
It takes almost ten minutes to get myself out from under Ari, but when I’m free, I push a pillow there for him to grab a hold of. I’m not sure how much time that will buy me, but I won’t hate it when he comes to track me down.
I snag a shirt off the floor and spot my panties next to them. I was sure those were long gone, but since I’m only going to his office, I don’t need much in the way of clothes. I’m also pretty sure my bag is still in his car, and I hold back a laugh at that.
When I open his badass office door, I quietly sneak inside and find one of the folders he pulled out the other day still sitting on his desk. Opening the file, I start to read and I realize he wasn’t lying.
There’s so much dirty crap on my mother, and it’s more than I expected. I don’t think the woman has ever been faithful, not to mention they even busted her stealing money out of one of my dad’s business accounts. Wow. With all this, how has my dad not managed to get a divorce? Hell, I think he could sue her.
The Reins brothers have been thorough, including pulling up some information on me. There wasn’t really a ton, and it’s mostly about my school. Unlike my dad and mother, there are no surveillance pictures of me.
When I flip past my stuff, I stop on a picture of a man I’ve never seen before. He’s not with my mother or father, and it’s only a single snapshot of him on his own. On closer inspection, I’m pretty sure it’s a mugshot.
“Who the hell is this?” The name reads Jeffrey Collins, and for some reason it’s vaguely familiar. I know I’ve never seen him before, but still there’s something about him I can’t shake.
I study the picture, wondering if it’s someone in my extended family that I’ve never met. My mother has always been so tight-lipped about her past that he could be an uncle she’s kept secret.