Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
He turns when Jennifer touches his arm.
I force my hand to stay at my side. Otherwise, I’ll clamp it over my mouth to stop myself from screaming, Get your freaking hand off him!
But I’m not going to scream.
I watch, calmly, at least outwardly.
I hope.
Damien takes a small step back, nodding as she says something.
She tries to touch his arm again, and he inches back slightly, not being rude but giving her a clear sign. My heartbeat flutters a little quicker when he does that.
He’s loyal to me. He wants only me.
He wouldn’t text with Jennifer as he and I do.
Or he’s just careful. He doesn’t like doing it out in the open. He is a celebrity.
They talk for a minute longer, Damien’s face remaining friendly but somewhat forced. At one point, he glances over her head, right at me, and his mouth goes tight. He turns, walks away from Jennifer, and heads into the house.
Jennifer stares after him, shakes her head slowly, then returns to us. I have to stop myself from leaping on her for information.
“What happened?” Lacey asks, and I want to hug her.
“He was friendly at first, but you saw it yourselves. He was immune to my touching-the-arm gambit, so I admit I laid it on a little heavily.”
“How?” I ask, my mouth dry, my entire being rebelling at the idea of those two being together.
“I basically told him he could have me. Which, I think you’ll agree, is quite the offer.”
“Jennifer!”
“What?” she laughs in Lacey’s direction. “He wasn’t giving me anything. But alas, he finally gave me the reason. He has a girlfriend.”
“What?” I say, and they both look at me sharply.
I warn myself to cool off. I’ve kept my Damien crush secret from Lacey and Dad for years. I’m not about to let it go now of all times.
Jennifer shrugs. “That’s what he said. You see, that’s why he was able to resist my simply overwhelming charms.”
I finish my soda and place it on the table. “Excuse me. I need to use the bathroom.”
“Thanks for telling us,” Jennifer calls after me, with her classic belittling laugh.
I walk into the house. The living room is crowded.
I’m not sure where Damien is.
Walking upstairs, I go into my bedroom and close the door behind me. That was all so much, and now there’s talk of this girlfriend.
It’s obviously just something Damien said to make her back off. But I can’t stop thinking about how it could easily be true.
There could be a woman in England waiting for him.
My phone buzzes from my bed, where it’s been charging.
It’s Damien.
A text.
I just did something silly, Danielle. I made you my girlfriend without asking you first. That’s what I told Jennifer when she hit on me. I saw you watching. I told her I had a girlfriend, and I meant you. Only you. The thought of doing anything with her, or anybody else…I don’t want it, ever. I just want you. I needed you to know that XXXXX
Where the heck is he?
Tears rise in my eyes, threatening to fall.
Thank you. For a crazy second, I thought you really had one. XXXX
I do. It’s you. XXXX
Don’t say stuff like that if you don’t mean it.
Luckily I DO mean it.
But you know we can’t….
I click send, leaving him to finish the rest.
He knows I’m talking about Dad.
I know, he replies. But I can’t resist you either.
I unplug my phone and take it to the rear window, looking down at the garden. Damien is sipping a beer at the edge of the yard, his phone in his other hand.
He stares right at me, into me.
I pick up my phone.
How crazy is it we haven’t had an actual conversation yet?
He smirks, then replies one-handed.
Maybe we should change that.
We’ll have to act natural. No funny stuff.
There’s nothing funny about the stuff we do, the stuff we’re going to do, but I agree. Act natural. For now.
I wonder what he means by, for now,…does he want to tell Dad?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Damien
I take another small sip of beer, laughing at Ryan’s joke even if my mind’s elsewhere. It’s been the same ever since the party started, but it’s been even more difficult to focus after that lady tried to hit on me.
I could only think about Danielle, the fact she was watching me, perhaps thinking I’d pick this woman…as if I could ever choose anybody else over her.
Past Ryan, I spot Danielle walking into the yard.
I remember what we said during the text, how we were going to try and act casually around each other, but I’m not sure I can, especially when I think about how I called her my girlfriend.
My instincts flare to life the moment I see her, my chest thudding powerfully, my manhood roaring at me to take her.
But it’s more than that.
My heart soars for her, too, a tug at the corner of my lips, resulting in an instinctive smile.