Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Which meant it was time to make her mine. For real.
For good.
Chapter 18
Toni
“Sleep well, sweet girl.”
My body was stiff and aching as I bent to kiss Layla’s forehead. The poor girl was dead on her feet from a long day at the water park, so beat she’d fallen asleep before we pulled out of the parking lot. It was a long and fun day, but the sun burned hot and bright which contributed to my own exhaustion. With Layla settled, I made my way to my bedroom with a plan to collapse into the bed and sleep until morning.
I stepped inside the room and closed the door, pressing my forehead against the door as I took a deep, cleansing breath. “Okay. Shower and then sleep.” I toed off my shoes and turned, freezing in the middle of the room at the sight of a very large, very beautiful bouquet of flowers. I took a hesitant step forward, gasping in shock at the sight of the stargazer lilies with posies in shades of pink and purple, vibrant shades of yellow. They were gorgeous and I touched the petals reverently.
They were obviously from Brady, and though instinct told me to dump them in the trash, I couldn’t bring myself to reject such a sweet gesture. My body hummed just thinking about last night with him, the way he played my body like an instrument he’d built for himself. The way he talked dirty to me, ratcheting up my arousal to unimaginable heights. It was more than I could take, I had to escape before I did something ridiculously stupid like tell him this was more than sex to me.
I fled the flesh and blood man but he invaded my dreams and turned them into fantasies of forever.
“Flowers almost as vibrant and lively as you. Yours, Brady Winsome.”
I held the card to my chest as a giant smile bloomed on my face. He’d given me his last name. It wasn’t everything, but it was something. He was trying and that’s what mattered.
Is he trying, though? My brain just wouldn’t quit, and reminded me that it was just a name, that Brady was giving me what I wanted but in such an insignificant way.
It was true, he was trying, but Lucy’s words rang in my head about rich men being different. Brady was definitely different if he’d never had a woman who just wanted him for him, without the money and whatever status he held in society. That was sad, and he deserved so much more than that.
So I accepted the sweet gesture, smiling as I took my time undressing and stepping into a hot shower where thoughts of Brady invaded my mind. Whatever was happening between us had the potential to be incredibly amazing, but history also told me it could devastate me, and I knew I wasn’t prepared for that.
The truth was, I wasn’t at all prepared for Brady. Most of the fathers I work for—single or married—I simply tolerated as much as one tolerates any unlikable co-worker. I ignored their looks and suggestive comments, pretended they weren’t failing their children in pursuit of wealth, and I gave their little ones all the things they deserved from childhood. My feelings for him shocked me, and I wasn’t ready to acknowledge them yet, so I focused on the earth-shattering sex. The multiple orgasms.
His secrets made that easier. And harder.
“Ugh, now I’m getting on my own damn nerves.” I stepped from the shower and wrapped a towel around my body while I dried my hair with another. I wanted Brady. The flowers and the last name meant he wanted me enough—cared enough—to try.
That was enough for now.
I smiled to myself as went in search of my phone. “You deserve a reward,” I said and tapped out a quick text message. “Thank you for the lovely flowers, Mr. Winsome.”
Brady responded immediately. “I’d love to hear you call me that in person.”
My skin flushed hot at his words. “If you can find me, you just might get your wish.” I laughed to myself and opened my underwear drawer, finding a few silky and lacy things to light Brady’s fire, but none of them were right. Instead I spritzed some perfume on my pulse points and wrapped my body in a fresh towel.
And then I waited for Brady.
Ten minutes later a knock sounded on the door and I smiled. “Come in.”
Brady stepped inside and his jaw dropped at the sight of me in nothing but a towel. “Antonia,” he rubbed a hand over his jaw.
“That’s me, Mr. Winsome.”
He stepped inside the room, kicking the door shut before he locked it, his gaze never leaving me. “Take off the towel.”
I flashed a teasing smile and shook my head.
“Toni.” My name came out on a rough growl and I licked my lips at the heat that burned his blue gaze, the fire that had his cock surging behind his zipper.