Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
As he walked out to his car, he tried her again. Once more it went straight to voicemail. He hadn’t left a message the other times, but he made an attempt. “Ashley,” he said. His mind went blank. What the hell did you say in this situation? Was there a Hallmark card for this? I’m sorry I almost tore your throat out, will you be my valentine? Or maybe I’m ready to go to the next step with you… do you mind if I permanently scar your flesh to embed my scent? No, even better, I’d like to endanger you by making sure all my enemies know I care. Hope you don’t mind the scarring.
Damn. He was really the biggest asshat, wasn’t he?
He drew a breath and exhaled. “Please call me. I really need to talk to you. I—I’m sorry, Ashley. I need to see you…” He started to say please call me, but realizing he’d already said that, hit ‘end,’ and rubbed his forehead.
What if she didn’t call? Should he show up at her house? Or wait to see her at work? God, would she even come to work? The thought of running Stone without her left him empty. In less than a week, she had become his everything. Because of her, he wanted to fix Stone, he wanted to man up and be the leader his brother had expected him to be. Leon deserved that. Ashley somehow had woken him up from the stupor he’d been in since his brother’s death.
He got in his car and drove to her house. The lights were on and he could see Ashley and Melissa sitting together on the sofa. He sat with the car idling for a moment, considering. Both women probably had a lot to share with each other. Maybe it was better to let them lick their wounds together without him interrupting.
He put the Mustang back in gear and drove home.
Turning off her phone when she was angry with Ben for abandoning her rivaled cutting off her nose to spite her face. Probably some part of her wanted to punish him. And maybe the other just wasn’t ready to talk. She needed to sort out her feelings about the whole ‘marking’ thing.
By the time she had told the entire story to Mel, she’d begun to feel the magnitude of it all. It wasn’t just about being shocked over the violence or angry over the abandonment. Ben had forever marked her as his mate. She had to admit her heart did a giddy dance when she realized the implications. She’d been right—he did have a thing for her. A serious thing, by the sounds of it. She didn’t know what it meant to be a wolf’s mate, but if they could work past the walls Ben put up, she sure as hell wanted to give it a try.
She had turned her phone back on before she went to bed, and was satisfied to hear Ben’s message. He’d sounded terrible. She still hadn’t been ready to talk to him, but she felt a lot better. Today, she could face him at work. They would talk and could move forward from there.
She drove in early and found a place in the garage close to the elevator. “Hang on,” she called out as the elevator doors shut on a man she didn’t recognize. She shoved her hand between the doors to open them and slid in. “Thirty-fifth floor, please,” she said.
He pressed the button without looking at her. She took in his shiny shoes first, then his crisp, clean designer business suit. He had dark hair, graying at the temples, and olive skin, darker than Ben’s. His eyes met hers and he wrinkled his nose as he sniffed the air.
She froze at the distinctly wolf-like gesture.
Her tension seemed to be the confirmation he needed because his lips curled into an ugly smile. “You’ve been freshly marked,” he observed in a thick Spanish accent.
She jerked her gaze away and looked up at the illuminated floor numbers above the doors. “I don’t know what you mean.”
In one swift movement, he pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and pointed it at her. “When the elevator reaches the destination, you will stay on, close the doors, and take it back down to the garage.”
She held her breath, trying to organize her thoughts. Who was this man? Someone from South America… Leon had died in Venezuela. What had Ben told her about it?
The doors opened and the gun disappeared into his jacket pocket, still pointed directly at her. “Close them. Now,” he growled.
She hit the ‘close door’ button. The elevator continued up to Ben’s floor. Please, she prayed, let him be out by Karen’s desk where he would see her standing there with the wolf she presumed was his enemy.