Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
But at least I know he’s with me, even if my heart refuses to understand why it has to be our last.
My chest is heavy, weighed down with regrets, but the spark of joy from seeing the whales helps me forget the future.
Almost.
I’ll never forget who brought me here.
I’ll never lose the heartache.
When I finally get the courage to glance up, he’s watching me with this fond, bittersweet, barely there smile.
It’s definitely for me and not the whales.
He looks at me like he’s seeing something precious for the last time, before it becomes a lost treasure.
Here we go again.
I’m splinters.
This time, the sudden pain strikes so hard I gasp. I have to look away before he sees it in my face.
The last time.
The last effing time.
Shepherd squeezes my hand as the whales sink back below the surface and the storm that’s been brewing overhead picks up, pelting the windows with diamond droplets.
“Was it as awesome as you hoped?”
Yes, yes.
And no, not nearly.
I turn, leaning into him, needing to feel him one more time.
“Can you check my pulse?” I manage. “I can’t believe we actually saw them. And crap, I didn’t even get a picture...”
“I had Juan capturing everything with the ship’s cameras. I’ll be sure to forward you the footage. Should be easy enough to edit however you’d like.”
Oh my God.
He really thought of everything.
“You know, even if part of this sucks... I’m glad we came,” I force out behind a sob. “If this is it for us, I can’t imagine a better finish.”
Besides not severing our hearts at all.
He nods slowly, his hands burning my sides.
I wonder if he feels it too.
He gives a long sigh, but before I can ask what’s on his mind, he says, “We’ll keep working on adapting our surveillance technology to conservation. The drones are just the beginning.”
“You really think so?”
“I’d be a damned fool to walk away from a brilliant idea.”
So why are you walking away from me?
I wish I could stop smiling at him calling me brilliant long enough to ask.
Never mind the fact that I get his logic.
I’m too young and sunny and he’s too dark and damaged and obsessed with his work, and we’ve been nothing but trouble since the day we met. And Dad might still put a price on his head, but—
But we shouldn’t be breaking up something so good.
My smile mirrors his, full of sad frustration. My cheeks feel raw against the drying salt on my skin.
“Thanks again, Shepherd. I’ll never forget it.” My voice is so thick. “And I’m sorry if I ever misjudged you when you just keep telling me how smart and pretty I am.”
“You saw me too well, Dess. That’s always been the problem.”
He glances down at me, a frown touching his eyes as his fingers brush my jaw. The caress is so light it feels almost imaginary.
He isn’t wrong.
This man who’s capable of such gentleness, such tenderness, such fierceness and courage, and yet he hides it all so well.
My eyes sting. I have to suck in a deep breath before smiling up at him.
He says nothing now, looking down at me, his eyes storming and dark.
Time loses all meaning until I feel Molly pawing at my leg, checking to see if I’m still alive.
Eventually, he clears his throat and looks back out the window.
The whales are long gone and the rain is hitting harder now.
It’s like a middle finger from Mother Nature telling us that this special moment is definitely over.
“I want you to know it’s under control. Soon, you won’t have to worry about Meghan or her warped mother anymore,” he tells me.
“Why? What happened?”
“You’ve heard about the legal drama, I’m sure. Mark was the one who stole the drone, and we have evidence. He was working with Meghan and Adriana. He grabbed a prototype from the lab and sold them the photos of us he took. His stupidity is our smoking gun.”
My brain short-circuits.
Mark?
Overgrown annoying puppy Mark Cantor did this?
Anger ignites my insides, and I brace my hands against Shepherd’s chest.
He’s so broad, so big, I feel safe enough to absorb the shock when I’m in his arms.
“He... he hated me that much?” I ask. “Jesus. I never thought...”
I shake my head.
Mark never showed me more than awkward overfriendliness.
If anything, I thought maybe he had a work crush on me.
Or maybe he wanted to impress me because he had a compulsive desire to suck up to people and make them like him.
Just look at how he treated everyone else.
Look how he treated Shepherd, Mr. Brownnoser extraordinaire.
Or so I thought.
“I’m glad you caught him, but honestly, I’m furious. The fact that he was using me the whole flipping time—”
“It’s not about you, Destiny,” Shepherd interrupts, taking my chin. He tilts my head so I look him in the eyes again. “This was about me. About sticking it to the man in his entitled mind. He expected a promotion for breathing. The little reprobate thought he saw a chance to make some money and fuck me over, and he took it.”