Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
I keep telling her that I want to go to her parents’ house, using the excuse that I want to see where the mayor lives. Her father is the mayor of Chicago—something that she hates for people to know. She says she hates going home because she says it’s too depressing. None of those things matter to me; I really want to go to see if I can find any dirt on Mark Lewis.
“It’s fine—as long as you didn’t get me anything. It’s complicated,” I say, not wanting to explain myself.
“It’s okay. I didn’t bring you a present or a cake or anything. I would like to take you to dinner, but not to celebrate today—just to celebrate us. Is that okay?”
I close my eyes. “Russell, that’s still a celebration,” I mumble under my breath.
“You have to eat, Blake. It’s just a meal.”
“I usually don’t eat today,” I reply quietly as I walk to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I do not want to have this conversation right now—or ever. “Can you wait for me in the living room? I’m going to take a quick shower.”
He comes over to me and wraps me in his arms. “Sure, but think about dinner, please,” he pleads before giving me a quick kiss and walking out of my room.
I let out a deep breath once he closes the door behind him. I skip to the door and lock it. I never leave my bedroom door unlocked when I shower. I’m startled when I turn back around and see Cole standing in the doorway between the bathroom and my bedroom.
“What?” I whisper harshly, making my way over.
“Nothing. You locked it,” he smirks as he nods in the direction of the door.
“I always do, but you already knew that,” I snap.
“Not when I’m here, you don’t,” he snaps back.
I tilt my head back and let out something that sounds like a growl of frustration. Cole laughs.
“What now?”
“You’re cute when you’re frustrated,” he says as his green eyes dance in amusement.
“Give me space, please,” I say as I push his chest with both hands. His chuckle vibrates against my arms, sending a shiver through my body. The sound of his laugh is one of the sexiest things I’ve heard—aside from Russell’s accent, of course.
I roll my eyes. “Cole, just hurry up in here. I need to pee and shower.”
“So do it. You’ve done worse things in front of me,” he counters with a raised eyebrow.
“Will you hurry up? We can’t both be in here at the same time; it’ll look bad.”
He closes the gap between us and examines me slowly, from my feet to my face, making me feel naked. His tongue coaxes his bottom lip, slowly soothing it, and I feel it affecting the aching parts of my body. If I could form coherent words, I would ask him why he’s doing this, but I can only focus on his shirtless chest.
“We can both be in here,” he says inching closer to me until I can feel his breath on the side of my face. “I’m still sleeping. Need help undressing?” he murmurs as he runs the pads of his fingers down the sides of my arms, making my breath quicken.
I try my best to keep my composure as the air between us crackles with desire.
“Cole, please,” I whimper.
“Please what, baby?” he asks huskily as he pushes a strand of hair behind my left ear and caresses my earlobe. His smoldering eyes dart from mine to my lips when I bite down on it, trying to contain a lustful sound from escaping my lips. He moans softly at the sight of it, and his own breathing becomes labored. I throw my head back with a frustrated groan and let out a gasp when I feel his lips press softly against my neck.
“Cole,” I plead, panting. “Please don’t. Please.”
He stills and exhales sharply against my neck, giving me chills. “Fine. I’ll go back to my room,” he says gruffly, his blazing eyes boring into mine. “Just know that I’ll be thinking very naughty thoughts and doing very naughty things to myself while I picture you naked and wet.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and clamp my legs together tightly as he laughs and walks back to the guest bedroom. Damn him.
As I take a very cold shower, I begin to recall my nightmare and the day that my mind has been willing me to forget for the past twenty-one years.
Chapter 2
Past
“Mommy!” I screamed. “Mommy!”
But she didn’t look up.
I knelt down in the pool of blood that surrounded her and started shaking her. I was still shaking and calling her name when a man walked in. He had one blue eye and one dark shiny eye that looked as though it could have been made out of glass. As much as I hated looking at his glass eye—because it was taunting me, looking everywhere but at me—I couldn’t seem to stop staring. The eye was brown; his real eye was blue. He was bald, had a thick blond beard on his face, and was very big. I thought he looked like a monster in a scary movie. He walked into the kitchen and looked around, screaming something that I didn’t understand. I trembled at the thought of what it might be. I looked around while he paced and saw the bloodied party hats and the cupcakes I had helped Mommy frost before bedtime.