Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“I get it.” Her gaze slid up to me, and there was that haunted look again. The one she’d worn before collapsing into my arms last week. “My dad…well, he didn’t really want us.”
“Us?”
She swallowed. “Me and my sister, Bailey.”
I masked my surprise that she was opening up to me. I wanted this. I wanted to know everything about her. I wanted to know what her tears had been about, and how to make them stop.
“I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. Then, she laughed softly. “I don’t know when I got like this. Everyone in my life used to know about her. We were inseparable.”
“Is she back in Midland?”
“Yeah. She lives with our dad. She’s about to start her senior year in high school.” Her eyes were empty at the words.
“Why didn’t you live with your mom?”
She sighed. “Mom left when we were little. Bailey was only three. I haven’t seen her since then. No card or email or anything.”
My jaw clenched. “What a coward.”
“Yeah. My dad mostly dumped us on his mom. Gram did most of the raising.” She shrugged, as if she wasn’t relaying a tragedy. “But Gram died last year.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah,” she said, hollow inside and out. “And now, it’s just Dad.”
“Your sister is with him?”
“Yes. Last year was hard for her. Between Gram and then living with Dad.” She wrapped her arms around her center. “I see so much of Colton in her. The anger. The pain. The recklessness. Dad makes it all worse. And I can’t move to Midland to be with her. Dad won’t let her move here to live with me. There’s so little that I can do.”
Her eyes finally met mine. Unshed tears gathered in her dark lashes. My heart felt near to bursting. This miraculous woman, who never seemed to let anything bother her. The girl that I’d seen dance in the rain after a soccer game. The one who had wrapped a fist around my heart and held it hostage. She was full of all this pain and longing for a life that she was never afforded. One that she wanted for her sister, as if Bailey were her own.
If I’d thought I was falling for her before, this tipped me completely over the edge.
I gathered her into my arms. Her narrow shoulders were heavy with the weight of problems she never let anyone else see. I wanted to be the one she could rely on rather than one adding more stress. She’d come apart in my arms the other day, and she was finally showing more vulnerability. I wanted to be there to help put her back together.
“I’m glad you told me.”
She sniffled. “I feel ridiculous. I hate crying. Seeing Colton shouldn’t have triggered this so bad.”
“You’re not ridiculous.” I pulled back and rubbed a thumb under her eye, careful not to smudge her makeup. “And you’re beautiful when you cry.”
She laughed hoarsely. “That’s a new one. I don’t think any guy has ever seen me cry.”
“I’m glad you feel comfortable enough to do it in front of me.”
“Twice.” She shook her head. “I’m losing my touch.”
I pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Nah, you just can’t resist me.”
“Oh, is that so? You make a lot of girls cry?”
“Well, when you put it that way.”
She chuckled. “Thank you. You know, for being there for me the other day and for this.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I want to be there for you.”
“Yeah, but we were going to have fun, and now, I’m crying.”
I kissed her hand as we slowly headed back toward the party. “There’ll be time for that later.”
“I’m going to take you up on that.”
“You’d better,” I said, squeezing her ass just before we got back inside.
Maybe I hadn’t gotten to live out my desk fantasy, but I’d gotten something better. As much as I loved our sex life, I wanted to know every single thing about her. Now more than ever, I wanted to be a part of her life. Because with one tear-streaked look, she had claimed me completely.
19
Whitton
“Colton, get in here,” I called from my desk on Monday morning.
He toed the door open and shuffled across the floor as if he were walking to his death sentence. “What?”
Oh, poor surly teenager.
“Where’s my coffee?”
“Probably still in the pot.”
My eyes caught his. Defiance was in his irises.
My assistant had messaged me privately to say that Colton was in a “mood” today. I knew exactly why he was acting like this. Consequences to his actions from this weekend. But it wasn’t fair to take it out on my assistant or me because he’d fucked up.
“Do you think this is going to make anything better?”
He shrugged and slumped into the chair in front of my desk. “I don’t know.”
“What happened after I left?”