Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
I tilted my head and started to back toward my truck.
“You’re overly excited right now,” I teased her. “Could you be excited for your own wedding?”
She scowled at me.
Throwing my head back in a laugh, I finished my trek to the truck, then headed back into town. Which only happened to be about three streets over.
I was heading into the main building before a familiar figure inside caught my attention.
And, of course, he would be here.
That’s just fuckin’ perfect.
I ignored him and walked up to the first available associate, a smiling twenty-something with a look of airhead about her.
She was cute, in a bubbly, you’ll probably talk my ear off, kind of way.
“Hello,” she chirped. “How can I help you?”
I slid the paperwork to her, hoping she didn’t need much more than that.
“And your name?” she asked.
I frowned. “What’s it matter?”
She blinked. “It’s… it’s just something I have to know. To pay off any account.”
I felt my left eye start to twitch, and I knew without a doubt that the man at my back was very much aware I was there.
“Gracelynn Reed,” I grumbled morosely.
She started to type away, and then said, with a very hesitant voice, “I’m sorry, but only signers on the account can pay the bill.”
“You’re telling me that a person can’t come up and pay a random person’s bill?” I asked incredulously. “I’m sorry, but if someone wants to come pay my bill, I don’t give one flying fu—”
“Take the payment,” I heard Jeremiah say.
The girl looked surprised to see the man at my back talking to her.
“O-okay, Mr. Crow,” she stammered. “I’ll get right on that.”
So she did, putting my information in, and giving me a receipt all in about ten seconds time.
The heat at my back didn’t move away at all.
Turning, I frowned at the man that was staring down at me with a hint of laughter on his face.
I narrowed my eyes at him and slipped away, heading outside without saying a word.
He followed, and I knew I wasn’t getting out of this situation without a conversation.
One that I most certainly wasn’t in the right frame of mind to have.
“It was only a massage. And I don’t take anybody out to my place.” He caught my upper arm to swing me around. “That’s why we went to the hotel.”
I snorted, not believing that for a second.
“She doesn’t have a fucking office to do this out of?” I snarled, unable to stop my eyes from devouring his face.
Though his face and his eyes were full of sincerity, I knew better.
Like I was going to believe that shit.
Okay, so I’d had some pent-up aggression. But if he wanted to have this out in the middle of his business parking lot, who was I to say no?
“No,” he said. “She’s a mobile massage therapist. Since I don’t have anywhere to go, and fuckin’ can’t stand doing it in the back of her van because it smells like essential oils and Bath and Body Works exploded, I ask to go to a hotel. She agrees. It’s all very, very upscale. I swear to fuckin’ God.”
The sincerity in his words had me chilling out slightly.
But only slightly.
Because I’d spent the last five days doing nothing but thinking about murdering him and his ‘massage therapist.’ I wasn’t going to simmer down just because he told me some sweet words that explained everything.
Even if I really, really wanted to believe him, I had too many traumatizing events happen in my life due to grown men that I knew better than to acquiesce so easily.
“Jeremiah.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m not doing this right now.”
Or ever.
Because, during those five days without him, I’d realized a few things.
One of those things was, if I was that mad at him for doing whatever it was he did after a few days, how would I feel if I stayed with him even longer? Gave him the entirety of my heart? What if he broke it like my own dad did? Then where would I be?
My dad had almost broken me.
I knew that Jeremiah would annihilate me.
And to keep that from happening, it would be best to keep my distance.
“Listen,” I said when it was obvious he wasn’t going to back down until I believed him. “I understand. Thank you for telling me. Explaining. I’m sorry that I jumped to conclusions. But in my defense, it looked really bad, and I’d been having a really bad day… days. I’m sorry.”
When I looked into his eyes, they’d softened.
“Why were you having a bad day?” he asked, lifting his hand and pressing the tips of his fingers against my jaw.
I resisted the urge to pull away.
Not because it felt bad, but because it felt that good.
And nothing that good was good, if you caught my drift.