Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
For a brief, infuriating, moment she forgot herself and her thighs slackened and opened slightly, before she came to her senses and clamped them shut over his impertinent hand.
“No.”
The word brought his head up sharply and he stared at her in blank confusion. “What do you mean no?”
“I literally just told you that we wouldn’t be doing that again. Not without condoms. Maybe not ever again. And you dare suggest a repeat performance?”
He looked shocked; his expression somewhat reminiscent of a man whose faithful old dog had just bitten him. “You’re serious?”
“Of course, I’m serious. I feel like you’ve ignored my every word since the wedding That you’ve dismissed everything I said as nonsense…” She stopped speaking when something in his eyes gave her pause. “Oh, my God, I’m right, aren’t I? You been managing me. Treating me like one of your business deals. I know how you and Gramps have operated over the years. If somebody doesn’t see things from your point of view, you wear them down, until they come to realize that your way is the only way.”
She got up, unconcerned with her nudity—it was too late for modesty now anyway—and fled for the bathroom but he was hot on her heels, and caught her wrist to spin her around and face him before she even reached the door.
“Let me go,” she demanded furiously, yanking her arm out of his tight grip.
“Lilah, come on, be reasonable,” he said, using his most rational voice, which infuriated her even further. “You know that you’ll put on this attention-seeking display of wanting a divorce and make meaningless noises about how this marriage isn’t quite what you wanted it to be. But once you’re done being an entitled brat, you’ll recognize that you knew exactly what the fuck you were getting when you agreed to marry me. You’ve known me for more than half of your life, you knew I didn’t do commitments, and love, and all the other shite… but your massive ego can’t handle the fact that you couldn’t change me. So you have to put on a show of indignation, right? Before you settle down and we can get on with our lives. So I’m giving you the space to do that.”
“You’re humoring me, you mean?” Her voice was thick with bitterness and grief
“If you want to put it that way,” he said, lifting his shoulders in an easy shrug. “Personally, I see it as pandering to your ego.”
This man didn’t know her at all. He thought he did, but the woman—the brat—he thought she was didn’t exist. She’d never existed. But it seemed that Ben hadn’t really bothered to get to know Lilah or understand her after their first meeting, when—yes—she had been an entitled, spoilt brat, possessive over her grandfather who’d suddenly brought a stranger into their midst. But she’d very quickly gotten over the hurt at suddenly having to share her grandfather’s affections with that moody, orphaned boy. Because she’d felt empathy toward Ben, had wanted him to feel welcomed, accepted, and a part of the family.
And all the while, Ben had only ever seen her as that sulky, bitchy little rich girl who’d been less than welcoming to him on their very first meeting. And he’d allowed that to color his perception of her for all these years.
How his resentment must have grown when he’d become her de facto babysitter over the years. All those times they’d spent together in his office, while she’d been studying and he working… Lilah had thought they were bonding, that he enjoyed having her around. While Ben had likely seen it as yet another duty to perform to keep Cyrus’s bratty granddaughter happy.
His last words hung heavily between them, and she stared at him, her wounded heart in her eyes as she absently rubbed the ache away from the wrist he’d grabbed. She saw the dawning regret in his beautiful eyes, and shook her head against the apology she could see forming in them. She did not want his apology, not for words he’d clearly meant.
“Lilah, I’m—”
“Don’t. You meant what you said, no point apologizing for it.”
“But—”
“I’m going to grab a shower. Why don’t you try to reach the doctor again?”
He was still standing outside the door, uncharacteristically hesitant, when she stepped into the bathroom and shut it in his face a moment later.
She stood with her back to the door for a long time and silently wept.
SEVENTEEN
This horribly empty moment
“Lilah.”
The sound of her name startled Lilah out of her restless sleep and she opened her eyes in bleary confusion, not quite sure where she was right now. Traveling often left her disoriented and the last twenty-four hours had been a confused blur of places and faces all underscored by a horrendous sense of dread and impending disaster.
“What’s happening? Is it Gramps? Is he okay?” she asked, her voice thick and slurred. She was laying stretched out on a sofa in a private waiting room at the hospital, she now recalled, as she sat up slowly and smoothed her hair down. She tugged at her blouse and flattened her pleated skirt down in an attempt to neaten herself up a bit. She knew that she probably looked a mess, but that was to be expected since she’d insisted they come directly to the hospital after leaving the airport. It had been too late to speak with the doctor, but they had been allowed to see Gramps, who’d been heartbreakingly unresponsive and unaware of their presence.