Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
“How can I help?” Frank asks, spreading his hands hopelessly. “It’s not like they trust me.”
“This is going to sound crazy,” I say, looking at Jenna in particular. “But I need you to listen to the whole plan first. Alright?”
She nods, and so does Frank.
Nothing left to do now but lay out the plan.
“Jenna and I have to get married,” I say, and I see the shock on both of their faces.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Jenna
“What are you talking about?” I blurt out. Get married? Us? We haven’t even known each other for a week!
Even at the same time as I object… I feel something in the depths of my heart. Something that wants to swell and explode. Something that heard him say the word married and knows it doesn’t want anything more than that in this lifetime.
“It would just be pretend,” Hunter says, and I don’t like the way my heart drops to find out I’m not going to get something that would have been ridiculous to expect anyway. “Frank, you’re going to go to the gang and tell them that your daughter’s getting married, and you just need another loan in order to pay for the ceremony. They’ll probably laugh and say you can’t have anything else because you still owe them a lot, but that’s when you tell them about me.”
“About you?” Dad frowns. “Won’t they realize it’s a trap if I tell them about a private detective?”
“You don’t tell them about what I do,” Hunter explains. “And if they know who I am, then you just brush it off – tell them it’s nothing to do with anything. The point is, if they look into me at all, they’ll be able to verify that I have money.”
“You have money?” I ask, looking at him with wide eyes.
He shrugs sheepishly. “I told you about my parents, didn’t I? They left me quite a bit.”
“I didn’t know,” I say, looking to the side in shock, processing what I’m hearing. “I mean, I knew you didn’t mind spending money, but I just thought….”
“Oh, I also charge a lot more for my services than I charged you,” he laughs. “Sorry about that. I knew you wouldn’t be able to afford my prices if I charged the full amount, and I really wanted to work with you.”
“Why?” Dad asks. He’s frowning at Hunter suspiciously. “Did you have some kind of connection with the police before all of this?”
“No,” Hunter shakes his head. “No, I wanted to work with your daughter because – well, because from the second I first met her, I was absolutely intoxicated by her. I had to have an excuse, any excuse, to see her more.”
I bite my lip at hearing him say it. I thought it was all over for a moment, and now I feel like the opposite is true. My emotions have been on such a rollercoaster today, and I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.
“But why did you hide so much from me?” I ask. “We said we would work together, but you were doing all of this on your own.”
Hunter shrugs again. “I realized pretty quickly that there was no way I was going to be able to concentrate when we were that close together. And you’ve been pretty distracted yourself. I just did a bit of work while you were asleep upstairs. I didn’t want you to wait for as long as it would take for us to actually get some focus before we could help your dad.”
“Wait a second,” Frank says, looking between us. “Distractions? Sleeping upstairs? What’s going on with you two?”
I look down; this is not a conversation I was planning to have with my Dad right now. It’s horrible enough with everything that’s going on. I don’t want to have to talk to my dad about the fact that I’m finally having sex.
“I’ll be honest with you, Frank,” Hunter says, and then he makes my heart stop. “I’m in love with your daughter.”
“What?” Dad explodes, turning to look at me. “Jenna, what’s going on?”
I can’t focus on my dad. I can only look back at Hunter. My eyes must be as wide and round as saucers. “You love me?” I say.
“Yes,” Hunter affirms, looking right back at me, unwavering. I see the truth of it in his face. “I know it’s fast, and I know most people would say we couldn’t possibly know by now. But I know. Our souls are matched. I love you, Jenna, and that’s not going to change.”
“I love you, too,” I breathe, realizing that it’s true. It is. And the rush of relief of not having to deny it is incredible.
He gets up, and I do the same, and we collide together in the middle of the room. He kisses me deeply and desperately, and for a moment, I cling to him like he is the last thing existing in the world, a rock to anchor myself to while everything else disappears.