 by Blue Saffire.jpg)
Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Gregor
I knew she was the one from the first time I saw her in that coffee shop. Time, age, life just made it impossible for us to be together. I thought I was the one making all the hard decisions and sacrifices in our relationship. In the end, my sacrifices amount to nothing and now I have to call on every power that be to make things right with the only woman for me. That is if our secrets don’t burn us to ashes first.
Chloe
I just don’t have it in me to love him again. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. This just won’t end well. I’m damaged beyond repair…or I thought I was.
*This is Book 2 in the A Million Series from bestselling, award winning author Blue Saffire. This is a spinoff from the Lost Souls world.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Preface
The Call
Gregor
I sit in this hotel room warring with what to do. Looking around at the opulence and luxury, I question walking away from the only life I’ve ever known.
However, I don’t know if the comfort of this lifestyle overrides my happiness and control over my own life. I’m tired of my father trying to control me and all my decisions. I don’t want to go into politics, and I don’t love working for him, I tolerate it.
However, I’m not sure I’m ready for what Clayton has planned out. To walk away and start over—is that what I want at thirty-three? My thoughts go to Chloe as the sound of her splashing in the bathtub reaches me.
If starting over means we can be together, it may just be what I need to do. My heart races. I’m truly going to ask her to do this with me. I’m going to start my life over. I’ll have nothing and I’ll be no one. Will she still want me?
My phone rings, pulling me out of my thoughts. I pick it up and see it’s my father. I’ve been avoiding his calls. I get the feeling he’s about to force my hand. He wants to start my campaign.
“Hello, Father,” I say into the phone.
“Clooney, I know about the girl. What are you thinking? You need to end things.” Just like him to get to the point of what he wants. Always what he wants.
Annoyed with him calling me by my first name, I bite into my cheek and try to feign innocence when I speak. “What are you talking about, Dad?”
“Don’t play games with me, Clooney. The girl has to go, now. She’s not the one for you. I want it over.”
I feel sick to my stomach. I’m thirty-three, not a child. Yet he has so much power over my life. I’m not this man. I can’t live with ties holding me back. I’m no one’s puppet.
Clay’s voice in my ear starts to grow louder, whispering about breaking free. I could take Chloe and start over. When this week is over, we can board a plane and be off.
It’s in this moment I make my decision. I will be my own man at whatever cost.
Chapter 1
Why
Brodi
A week later…
“You have to understand. I’m doing what’s best for you,” I sigh in frustration.
“You said that last time. I’m so stupid. Why do I keep letting you do this to me?” Chloe sobs.
Her words and tears rip right through my soul. I’ve never wanted to hurt her. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved.
Well, she’s a woman now. The first time our worlds collided, I had no business being with her. She was so young and naive.
“Come on, Cee,” I say, releasing a breath. “That’s not fair.”
I’ve never been able to truly walk away from her. She should know this. This is why we’re here.
The shit I’ve done to be with her. Internally, I give a bitter laugh. She doesn’t even know my real name.
I’ve never told it to her for fear of how it could ruin me. I know I’m a bastard. I’ve only thought of myself when pursuing Chloe.
My needs have always been first. My need to know her name, my need to hear her voice, my need to see her—it’s always been about my needs, not hers. My needs are what blinded me in the first place.
I should’ve acknowledged from the beginning that it wouldn’t work. My father has his eyes on the governor’s seat. He’s been grooming me for it since I was a little boy.
Well before I could walk or talk, my father had plans for my life. None of those plans have ever included a girl eight years younger than me. His call earlier in the week only solidified that.
The media would have a field day if it ever got out I once dated a seventeen-year-old, while I’d been twenty-five. I knew Chloe was younger when I met her. I just didn’t know she was that young.
In my defense, she lied to me for the first six months. By the time I learned the truth, it was too late. I was already in love with her.
Thank God we hadn’t had sex. I had loved the thrill of the chase. At least, I thought it was a chase. Chloe was so gorgeous and intelligent. I thought her playing hard to get in the bedroom was a total turn-on.
“It’s the truth,” she tosses back at me.
“The truth… the truth. Do you remember how I found out?” I ask, letting my words hang in the air, my temper flaring just a little.
I found out about her age because I wanted to surprise her for her birthday. However, I was the one who was truly surprised. As I sat outside of the high school I’d learned to be the one she attended—not the college campus I’d gone to earlier in the day before the truth made its way to me—I watched her be a teenager.