Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“I do say so,” she said aggressively, looking cute as hell with how determined she was. “The question is, are you listening to me?”
“I’m listening,” I said. “It sounds like you don’t want me to give you gifts, but from the look of that hound laying over your lap, I’d say I did good.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “You’re impossible.”
“And you love it.”
“I do,” she said, and the moment settled into something beyond teasing and banter. Beyond desire and friendship. Beyond any coaching or client relationship.
This felt domestic…her in my home, our dog snoring peacefully next to us as we binge-watched a show, crunching on snacks that I half-burned before she came over.
This felt comfortable.
This felt real.
And it felt like something I needed to hold on to with everything I had, because the more time we spent like this, the more I realized thirty days with her would never be enough.
CHAPTER 12
Alexandra
“I’m getting used to seeing you in ball gowns,” Ethan whispered into my ear after we’d spent an hour at yet another luxury hotel, hosting yet another amazing charity event that he was at the center of. “I love it,” he continued, grinning down at me, his eyes trailing the length of the long sapphire gown I wore.
“Strangely enough, I’m getting used to wearing them,” I said, shaking my head. “I certainly never thought I would be, especially since my volunteer work attire usually consists of whatever I don’t mind getting dog hair all over.”
“You wear both stunningly,” he said.
“Still trying to get me to fall for you?” I asked.
“Always,” he said, navigating me around the throngs of elite who had gathered here in Philadelphia for their annual Children’s Hospital event.
Ethan explained the hospital gets a good chunk of their funds from this event, and it blew me away to see all the donations happening between sipping champagne and mingling. I’d been to half a dozen of these things and it never got less astounding what people could do with wealth and how many people they helped along the way. And the fact that Ethan did it regularly, without a second thought as to what he got out of the situation, made my heart freaking melt.
And we were at the end of our thirty-day agreement today, yet neither one of us had mentioned it when we’d boarded his private jet and flew here for the weekend. I knew my rules, knew he respected them too, but where I usually was more than prepared to initiate the break-up for my short-term relationship contract and move on, I had no desire to let Ethan go.
Besides, we still had a month before our sessions were finished, so it’s not like we wouldn’t be seeing each other every other day, anyway. I’d resolved myself to ask him about it later when we were alone. If he’d slaked his desire for me in the past thirty days and didn’t want any more time with me romantically, then we’d call it quits and I’d go back to being his life coach. It would hurt like a bitch, but I’d respect his wishes.
Did I desperately hope he’d want to continue? More than I wanted to admit.
Did I realize that meant I was absolutely and totally too far gone for him? Yes.
Despite my best efforts to protect my heart, I couldn’t do anything about it now. I was committed, tangled, and totally wrapped up in all things Ethan Berkley.
“Oh, fuck me,” Ethan grumbled under his breath, his hand tightening in mine.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered the question, noting the drastic shift in his body language—his once loose muscles were tight, the one in his jaw ticking as he looked across the room, eyes locked on a gorgeous woman with golden hair and a bright smile in a crimson dress. She gripped the arm of a tall, lithe man in a tux. The couple spotted Ethan and instantly made their way across the room toward us.
“Ethan,” I emphasized his name when he didn’t answer.
He turned to face me, visibly swallowing as his eyes churned with equal parts hurt and anger. He took a deep breath, and I noted the beats he counted: four in and four out. Shit, he was trying to stop whatever was barreling through him.
“That’s my—”
“Ethan fucking Berkley,” the man in the tux said, stopping just in front of us, the woman pursing her lips in a satisfied way that didn’t fit the moment. “How is the team-stealing bastard?”
My spine straightened at the man’s tone, and I parted my lips to say something, but Ethan shifted to face the couple, keeping his hand firmly in mine as he did.
“I’m fantastic, Edmund,” he said, his voice so much smoother than it had been seconds before.
“I heard you’re about to lose my team,” Edmund said, a cocky sneer shaping his features. “It’ll give me my opportunity to get them back. How does that feel?”