Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59954 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59954 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
A woman walked into the room and called to Blair, who turned around and smiled. If it were anyone but me, they might not have noticed that her smile was off. I leaned in and studied her more intently, anxious to know what was upsetting my girl.
The woman took the baby from Blair and kissed him on the head. She smiled and said something to my bunny, then turned and walked towards the exit. My eyes remained glued to Blair. It was clear that she thought no one was looking because her mask had dropped away. Blair put her arms around herself, and her face was awash with pure longing as she watched the mother leave with her baby.
Soon, bunny. Soon.
Chapter 4
Justice
Thirty days. Thirty fucking days. I repeated this in my head over and over as I watched Blair reluctantly say goodbye to the babies in her care. Every fucking day of the week, I struggled to keep from running down to her and sweeping her away to take that look off her face.
I only had to endure 30 more days. Then I would be free to take her and give her what she obviously so desperately wanted.
Marriage and kids had never been in my plans until the day Blair became mine. Now, all I could think about was putting the ring burning a hole in my pocket on her finger and filling our penthouse with our little ones.
My eyes stayed glued to the monitors until Blair had slung her purse over her chest and left the daycare. I hated that I couldn’t keep watch over her when she wasn’t in the building, but I was somewhat appeased by being able to track her phone.
Every day, she would leave after they closed at six and head home to the penthouse next to mine. Whenever possible, I timed it so I would bump into her in our building lobby so we could ride the elevator together. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to give her a ride home. If we were alone in the back of my car, I wouldn’t be able to withstand her irresistible mix of innocence and sexy and she’d never make it to her eighteenth birthday with her virgin cherry intact.
Instead, I followed her at a distance—something that annoyed Benjamin and made him ridiculously cranky—so that I was sure she was protected. When we were a block away, I flagged down my driver and we pulled up to the building just as she arrived.
Yeah, I was well aware of how fucking crazy I seemed. I could only imagine the field day a shrink would have with this level of obsession, but I honestly couldn’t manage to muster up even one fuck to give.
Today was one of the rare days when I wasn’t able to personally make sure she got home safely, and it made me grumpy as fuck. I sent Benjamin, who also happened to be former Italian Special Forces, to trail her and make sure she got home without incident. If he wondered at my odd actions concerning Blair, he never voiced it and I didn’t offer an explanation.
Thatcher sauntered into my office, drawing my attention away from the app where I was staring at the little green dot representing my girl.
“Remind me why this meeting had to happen tonight?” I scowled.
“Jamison is getting married this weekend, and he’ll be gone on his honeymoon for three months.” Thatcher leaned against the doorway; his hands stuffed in his pockets. “We need this merger to go through before the fiscal year ends.”
“Okay,” I dragged out the word. “But why a dinner meeting? This couldn’t have been done during lunch?”
Thatcher’s gaze was on the wall of windows that made up the left side of my office, matching the one I sat in front of. He meandered over to look down the forty-five floors to the ground beneath us. “I’m not available for lunch meetings,” he finally responded, his tone inattentive.
I stood and walked up beside him, staring in the same direction, trying to discern what he was staring at. The Statue of Liberty? Battery Park, maybe? “Want to give me a little more explanation than that, brother?”
Thatcher cursed and turned away from the window. “She’s there. Every day. It’s the only time I have to see her.”
My brow shot up, probably getting lost in my hairline. This was the first I was hearing of a “she.”
“The one,” he clarified before turning his dark, churning eyes on me.
I’d never known Thatcher to be anything less than completely confident. Seeing him unraveling at the seams told me how serious he was about this woman. “So, what’s the problem? Why are you hesitating?”
He shook his head and pulled his hands from his pockets to cross his arms over his chest. “I’m not hesitating,” he disagreed. “I’m just not ready yet. Everything has to be perfect.”