Total pages in book: 190
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Having locked my car, I walked toward my front door, thinking of what I might wear for my upcoming dinner with Dax. Probably something—
Shoes scuffing pavement behind me.
“Addie?”
I halted. Fuck, no, he was not here.
I very slowly turned. Annoyance whipped at my skin and made my nostrils flare. Oh, he was here all right.
Grayden stood a few feet away, his trim body tense, his hazel eyes dull, his lips set into a flat line. At one time, the sight of him would have made my mouth reflexively curve and my heart go all gooey. Those days were over.
I balled up my hands. “You shouldn’t be here.” There was no sign of his car, which meant he’d likely parked it elsewhere so that no one he knew would see it outside my home.
He shoved a hand through his short brown hair. “We have to talk.”
“No, no, we don’t.” Again, I made a beeline for my front door.
“I have to know if what I heard is true,” he said, catching up to me. “I won’t believe it unless I hear it coming from you.”
I spun to face him with a hiss. “You don’t get to just turn up here. We agreed we would keep a distance from each other. Remember?”
“I had no choice but to come, you blocked my number.”
“Because I don’t want to speak to you.” Obviously.
He flinched. “And I don’t blame you, but I need to know if Dax Mercier was bullshitting Felicity when he told her that you’re his goddamn fiancée. Are you seriously going to marry him?”
I stood tall, holding my head high. “I am, yes.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me.” His brows squished together. “Why, Addie? Why would you do this?”
“Because I want to.”
“But why?” He threw up his hands. “You guys weren’t dating. You had nothing to do with each other.”
“And how would you know?”
His lips flattened. “So, what, you two have been sneaking around, seeing each other in secret … and now, all of a sudden, you’re engaged to him? Engaged to someone you couldn’t have been dating for more than a few months?”
“Well—”
“That makes no sense. Unless you’re saying you’ve both been harboring deep feelings for each other all these years? Is that what you’re telling me?”
If he thought I was going to stand here and justify myself to him, he was high. I folded my arms. “For the life of me, I can’t work out why you think I need to explain any of my choices to you.”
“This isn’t me being nosy, I’m concerned about you.”
“I don’t need your concern. Now please leave.”
“But—”
“I asked nicely,” I gritted out.
He pressed his lips tight together. “Just help me understand. You’re not a person who’d marry someone you’ve only been seeing a short length of time. Neither is he—I know Dax well enough to be sure of that. What you’re doing … I don’t get it.”
“It isn’t necessary that you get it. This is my life, my business, Dax’s business. Not yours.”
He cursed beneath his breath. “Wouldn’t you have the same questions in my position?”
“Maybe. But I wouldn’t for a second think I had any right to ask them.”
Closing his eyes, he tented his hands and placed them against his mouth. “Felicity thinks …” Letting the sentence trail off, he lowered his arms and met my gaze. “She thinks you’re doing this to get my attention. To make me jealous. Hurt me.”
I went still. “Is that what you think as well?”
“No. You’re not a person who plays games. But why else do this?”
“You don’t seem to be getting that I don’t have any interest in explaining myself to you.” The concept wasn’t rocket science.
Grimacing, he showed me his palms in a universal gesture of peace. “I’m coming across as a dick right now, I know, but I don’t mean to. I’m not trying to piss you off. I’m not of the opinion that you owe me anything. It’s just … the image of your bucket list popped into my head. On the list of stuff you wanted to do before you died was get married.”
Realization dawned on me, and I looked away with a heavy sigh.
“When I heard you’re not only engaged to Dax but gonna marry him very fucking soon completely out of the blue”—he grabbed a clump of his hair and raised his shoulders—“I started panicking, okay. Please tell me that’s not what this is about.”
Oh, the idiot. “I’m not dying.” When he only stared at me, his expression dubious, I added, “Really.”
Relief flickered in his eyes, and a long breath whooshed out of him. “If it’s not that … I can’t figure this out,” he said, a lot calmer now. “You and Dax aren’t each having a premature middle-aged crisis, are you?”
I frowned. “If I was having one of those, I’d do something a lot more creative. Like get a llama and start dressing as a fairy or something.”