Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
‘Your wife,’ I say. ‘She doesn’t deserve this.’ No woman deserves this, no matter what. I’ve encountered her only a few times, seen her behaviour and heard the rumours, but it still doesn’t make this right.
His nostrils flare as he scans my face for a few thoughtful moments, maybe considering what a selfish arsehole he’s being. What an awful situation he’s putting me in. ‘Don’t think you’re destroying a perfect marriage, Annie. You’re not.’
‘It’s still a marriage,’ I mumble meekly. ‘Perfect or not, I have no place in it.’
‘That’s not true. You do have a place in it, because you are the only thing that can save me from it.’
I feel my brow furrow. ‘Save you from it?’
A small smile crosses his handsome face. ‘Stephanie is . . .’ His words die as he evidently struggles to piece together what he wants to say. ‘Volatile.’ He sighs. ‘Our marriage is over. I know it, she’s knows it, but she refuses to accept it.’ Jack shakes his head and squeezes his eyes closed, the frustration clear. ‘I can’t live like this any more, Annie. There’s no going back for me.’ Opening his eyes, he levels a determined stare on me. ‘I don’t want to find a way back again. Especially now. Especially since I met you.’ He shakes his head a little in frustration. ‘See me again,’ he orders quietly.
‘Are you crazy?’ I ask, dumbfounded. I’ve already spent limited time with Jack, and it feels like I’ve known him for years. Adding any more hours to our time together would be monumentally stupid. I’ve been stupid enough already.
He moves across the bathroom towards me, coming to a stop behind me. He doesn’t touch me, but ensures our eye contact remains intact. ‘Quite possibly,’ he answers simply.
I swallow and shake my head, but he counters by nodding his own, confident with his declaration. I can feel myself slipping from the safety of my conscience again. ‘No,’ I murmur.
‘Yes,’ he counters, watching me as he lowers his mouth to my shoulder and rests his lips on my flesh. I jerk and grab the sink for support, but I don’t pull away. Stupidly, I let him at me, consumed in a second by his power over me.
He kisses my shoulder lightly and takes my hand, extending it out to the side and kissing his way down my arm to the very tips of my fingers. My skin bursts into flames, my head drops back and my mind blanks out once again. Only Jack exists. I slide my hand up his arm and curl my palm around his neck, applying a light pressure, telling him to come to me. He expresses no victory. He circles me until he’s before me and slides his hand onto my cheek, lowering his mouth leisurely to mine.
I’m gone, lost in that special place he takes me to, where passion and longing cloud everything.
Then Stephanie’s face is suddenly all I see, and I shout, pushing him away from me. ‘No,’ I snap, turning and walking away from him, my hands coming up to my temples and physically trying to force the image of her from my head. It’s stuck there, tormenting me, torturing me. I can’t cave again. I mustn’t cave again. ‘Get out.’
‘Annie, don’t walk away—’
‘Get out!’ I scream, swinging around in a blind rage. His pursuit halts as soon as he catches sight of my incensed face. ‘I don’t want you!’ I seethe, snatching up his jeans and T-shirt and throwing them at him viciously.
He lets his clothes hit him and fall to the floor. ‘Stop fucking lying to me!’ he roars, stalking forward and claiming me. ‘Stop saying what your head is demanding and start listening to your fucking heart, Annie!’
‘My heart is saying nothing!’ I fight with him, scared to death of remaining in his hold, feeling him breaking me down with every second he’s touching me.
‘Then why can I fucking hear it?’ he yells. ‘Loud and fucking clear, woman. It’s saying the exact same thing mine is.’
I wrench myself free and move away, breathing heavily. ‘Leave me the hell alone and go home to your wife. It’s that simple.’
‘Simple?’ Jack asks seriously, gesturing an accusing hand up and down my front before smashing a fist into his chest. ‘Then why the fuck does it hurt like hell every time I think about not seeing you again?’ he yells. ‘Explain it to me, Annie, because I really am going fucking crazy!’
I shrink on the spot, shocked, yet I fully comprehend what he’s saying. I feel like I’m going out of my mind too, and I’m definitely hurting. I start to shake. It’s anger, but it’s also fear.
‘Get out.’ I need to put aside the crazy chemistry and bat down the butterflies. I mustn’t be blinkered by lust again. ‘Just go, Jack.’ I drop my eyes to the floor before I can take in any more of him. And those memories. His face, my face, our bodies. I squeeze my eyes shut and push the heel of my palm into my forehead.