Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
I slipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out the only key to this room. Maeme didn’t know I’d taken it the night I brought Briar here. If she knew, I’d have been dressed down over it by now. I was going to put it back after making two more copies, but I hadn’t taken the time to return it yet.
Holding up the key, I enjoyed the mixed expressions on Briar’s face. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it, but I could tell she wasn’t mad about it either. Maybe she wouldn’t be angry about the cameras in her room … no, she’d be pissed. That was something I couldn’t tell her about. Ever.
I dropped the key back into my pocket as I walked over to her. The shorts and sleeveless blouse she was wearing looked much better on her than it had on the mannequin in the upscale boutique I’d bought it at in Buckhead.
“Are you finished?” I asked her as she placed an elastic hair band at the end of her braid.
“Yes.”
“Then, let’s go.”
She turned to face me fully then. “Where are we going exactly?”
“To my house.” So I can fuck you in my bed.
“Oh,” she whispered, looking surprised.
I reached out and took her braid, wrapping it around my hand. This was going to be enjoyable later. I pulled at it. “Where were you expecting me to take you?” I asked, unable to keep from watching her mouth as it moved.
“I didn’t know, but … I definitely hadn’t expected that you’d take me there.”
I tugged on her hair gently. “And why is that?”
She licked her lips nervously. “I … well, it’s your house. And we … we are … I don’t know what we are. Not anymore.”
I used my hold on her braid to pull her to me. “What do you want to be?” I asked her when, internally, I was shouting, MINE. I couldn’t exactly say that to her though. Not yet.
She let out a soft sigh, then laughed that sweet musical sound I craved. “I don’t know, Storm. You scare me. I’m afraid to want you at all.”
I didn’t like that answer. But I had caused this.
I leaned down and brushed my lips over hers, no longer able to wait to taste them. “I’ll fix that,” I promised her.
• Thirty •
I was completely green with envy of the woman he’d one day fall in love with and marry.
Briar
When I’d imagined Storm Kingston’s home, this was nothing at all like I’d expected. The size of it wasn’t surprising. I had known the man was wealthy. They all were. Wealth and power came with being in the Mafia. They did illegal things and got away with it. Money came with those illegal things. I tried not to think too hard about what those things all consisted of.
“What do you think?” he asked me as we stepped inside the front door.
Although the style reminded me of something found in the South, pre–Civil War era, it wasn’t old. It was new. You could just tell that this was meant to reflect that era of style, but it wasn’t from that time. We’d passed his parents’ home on our drive back here, and it was an authentic Greek revival home. It had been dark, and the lights were off there, but from what I’d been able to see, it was a stunning house. I’d love to see the inside of it. Not that I would ever ask.
“It’s …” I said as my gaze roamed over every detail. “Not what I was expecting.”
He moved closer to my side. “And what were you expecting exactly?”
I shrugged. “A modern-looking bachelor pad sort of thing.”
“This is family land. The house was built with my future in mind,” he explained. “Since I won’t be moving or selling it.”
I nodded. That made sense. I could see him having a family here, although the idea of some woman living here as his wife with children running around made my insides twist in uncomfortable ways. I shoved that thought aside. Not something I needed to think about. The envy crawling just under my skin was difficult to get under control though. I was jealous of some woman in his future. I had let him in, and that was a mistake. He was starting to take up residence in parts of my body he didn’t belong.
“It’s beautiful,” I told him.
And the lucky bitch who would live here one day had better deserve it.
Storm’s pleased expression made me think he actually gave a crap what I thought. Maybe he did. He was acting differently toward me. The disgust was gone, and it had happened so quickly that I was struggling to believe it or this new version of him. I kept waiting for him to go back into complete asshole mode and potentially shatter me. I wasn’t sure how deep these feelings I’d developed for him went, but I feared they were much deeper than anything else I’d ever felt.