Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
When I’d gotten my first glimpse of her, I knew it was over for me. Really over. She doesn’t even know who I really am. I’m sure she’s heard of me. All this time, my little Rae of sunshine had been right under my nose, and I hadn’t known it.
How long had her best friend Ms. Jones worked for me? I suppose she’s not Ms. Jones now, nor does she work for me anymore. Now she belongs to Vincent Castillo and not as one of his many assistants. He’d gone and married her.
At first, I hadn’t understood what Vincent was up to. He’d beckoned my assistant through Rae. That had been the first time I’d heard her voice, when she’d called Ms. Jones at work pleading for her to come back home. That she needed her.
I was offering Ms. Jones a ride on my own plane before I even knew what I was doing. She thought I was crazy. I can still recall the shocked expression on her face. Hell, I’d shocked myself.
It wasn’t an hour after we landed that I was informed Ms. Jones no longer would be working at my office. Not that I gave a shit. I have multiple PAs. She’d been the newest, but she was efficient, and I thought she’d be around for a while. She’d gone and married Vincent. She’s no longer Ms. Jones. If you call her such, Vincent is quick to correct you. I don’t blame him. Once I get my girl, I plan on doing exactly the same thing.
I didn’t know the two even knew each other. Vincent and I went to college together. We ran in a lot of the same circles but didn’t run too close. I played stocks and investments while he worked with exporting and importing. Two different worlds, for the most part. But when you’re wealthy, people are always trying to yank you together for one reason or another. Okay, the main reason is money. That’s what everything always comes down to.
It’s been my life’s motto. Everything is numbers and bottom lines. I’ve always been focused on what could be made and if the math would work for or against you. I’m good at what I do and know when to toss out something that doesn’t work. I have good instincts and stick with the equation I know. It’s easy enough. I can turn everything into a mathematical problem to be solved. Everything besides her.
I’m finding that Raegan Smith isn’t a math equation that I can solve. Even if she was, I have a feeling I wouldn’t enjoy seeing the numbers. That the odds would be against me.
I’ve always been a patient man when it came to closing in on a target. I could wait out the best of them. Let the quiet settle in and allow everyone to grow restless. That’s when I’m at my best.
That will never work with Raegan Smith. She eludes me in all ways.
But still I’ll wait. It’s only a matter of time before she needs something or someone. The odds will change, and that’s when I’ll strike.
Sooner or later, she’ll be mine. Forever.
2
Rae
How is that alarm going off already? My eyes are heavy, and I don’t want to open them. Then I remind myself of my daily mantra. I take a deep breath and begin to run through it.
Today I get to get up. Today I get to go to work. Today I get to see my brother. If I have to do something, it makes it less special. At least that’s what I read once. Okay, I saw it on one of those inspirational TikToks. And to be honest, it’s not making my eyes open any faster. That’s for dang sure.
“Travis!” I call as I push myself up from my bed. I’ve always been a belly sleeper. I don’t know how my boobs handle it, but they manage.
“I’m up,” he calls back with a yawn. He’d better be. His butt is lucky to still have a job after what he pulled. If not for JJ, I don’t want to even think where my brother would be right now. Her agreeing to marry Vincent all but kept Travis from spiraling into more trouble or ending up dead.
I push that thought from my head. I can’t bear to imagine something happening to my twin. I don’t think I’d be able to handle that. JJ is part of our family, she’s my best friend, but with Travis, there is some deep connection that comes with being a twin.
JJ came into our foster home a bit later in our lives. Before she arrived, it was Travis who was always watching my back. Even at the age of four, he was my fierce protector. I think that’s why I now feel the same need to protect him as well as keeping an eye on him. So far, he’s kept his nose clean from what I can tell, but it’s only been a week.