Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Nora had absolutely no idea.
****
Gabriel was pissed off.
Maya had made a big mistake. His parents were getting desperate. George had been caught attempting to steal client requests and documents for his parents to steal. He’d been fired and was facing criminal charges. This is why he didn’t call people out, he waited for them to do damage, and he just handled the rest.
Now his ex of over a year came calling, trying to manipulate him into believing three months ago they hooked up, and she was now pregnant with his son. He had a horrible suspicion the baby Maya carried was in fact his father’s. He knew they were desperate. A DNA test would show him not to be the father, but he wondered if they were hoping using his dad would create a confusing reading.
That was never going to work, especially as he had the memory of Nora and himself finally hooking up three months ago. He hadn’t been interested in any other woman since he first caught sight of Nora. She had called to him from a distance, not that anyone would understand that. To women like Maya, Nora was a no one.
Gabriel had seen Nora leave, and he’d looked at her as she stepped on the elevator and knew what her facial expression meant. He couldn’t have her believing she was less. Did she not see he was fucking devoted to her?
After he had warned Maya about her next steps, Trudy had come in to tell him what he already knew. Nora was breaking. He’d not been honest with her about his parents, about anything.
“Your parents do that?” Nora asked.
“I guess they’re like your aunt and uncle, only they like to send in spies,” he said. “I’ve had them attempting to steal client files and poach my business. They have reported some of my companies as well. That worked for a while, but I’ve proven to be a good employer. There have been countless lawsuits. They have stopped, as I realized what was happening, and put in all the necessary security details to help.” He was not going to tell her there was a rape allegation.
His grandfather had told him to watch his back by any means possible, and so he had, at each step. Security cameras were located in all parts of his building. They had saved him a lot of trouble when the cops came calling.
“Wow,” Nora said. “I had no idea.”
He moved toward his desk. “The private investigator I hired came back with the details. Your aunt and uncle forged your signature, relinquishing the power over your parents’ estate.”
Gabriel saw Nora’s frown.
“You don’t need to talk about my aunt and uncle. This must be a big deal for you, having a woman accuse you of being the father of her child?” Nora went to him, and he watched as she reached out and cupped his cheek. “How are you?”
This was a first. Trudy and his grandfather were the only two people to ever care and ask him how he felt. No one else had cared. Everyone had always been after something.
Now Nora cared, and he saw it in her eyes.
“I’m fine. It’s something I’m used to.”
She let out a light laugh. “Gabriel, something like this is not getting used to. It’s absurd.”
He reached in and kissed her lips. “Then next time, don’t walk away,” he said.
She nibbled her lip and pulled her hand away, but he reached for her, pulling her closer. There was no way he was going to let her pull away.
“Gabriel, come on.”
“No. You’re mine, Nora. I’m saying it now, and today is why I didn’t want this to be private. You and I are in this together. I want you.”
There, he had said it. Trudy had warned him that if he didn’t act quickly, he was going to lose Nora.
“What are you saying?”
“Be mine,” he said.
Nora stared at him and he saw he’d shocked her.
“You mean that?” she asked.
“Yes.” He’d never been surer of anything in his life.
“But, people are going to talk. They’re going to assume I got my job by sleeping with you.”
“Nora, I don’t give a fuck what people think, and you know what, neither should you. They’re going to come to their own conclusions.” He couldn’t believe he was attempting to do this.
After listening to Trudy, he’d felt this fear, and that was something he wasn’t used to feeling. All his life, he had dealt with whatever came at him, especially in the form of his parents. The very thought of losing Nora and not being able to win her back, or for her to understand what she meant to him, scared him more than anything else in the world. This has been eye-opening.
The last few months had been a crazy train, that was for sure. He’d known from the very beginning that Nora was different. She was not like any of the other women he’d been with.