Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 50828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“Maybe you deserve it for hurting me.”
I don’t, and I refuse to take another ounce of crap from him. “Or maybe you’re just full of shit.”
Without hesitation, I knee him in the balls, delighting when he doubles over. While he clutches his testicles and falls to his knees, I race to my suitcase, zip it up, and dash toward the front door.
“Goddamn it, Izzy. Get the fuck back here,” he shouts through the strain.
“No. Don’t call me anymore.”
“If you leave here, I’ll trash the rest of your shit. I’ll dump whatever else you came for in the landfill!”
My heart seizes up. My mom’s pendant is the last thing of hers I really have. I cherish it. I’ll sob if I lose it. But Eric is coming down the hall, and I already know if he reaches me, our fight will get uglier. He gets out of control when he loses his temper, like a toddler who can’t manage his emotions.
“I don’t care,” I bluff. Eric is too self-absorbed to realize he still has the one item I want most. “I got everything I need. I’m out, and I’m not coming back. Have a miserable life. You deserve it.”
He lumbers and sputters his way down the hall, then shouts as he wrenches open the front door while I toss my suitcase in my compact and drive off to the sight of him waving his fist in my rearview mirror.
I doubt I’ve seen the last of him, but he’s not my biggest concern. Nathan and our pending nuptials are. I’ve escaped one horrible situation, but my ex is merely a big, self-absorbed bully. Nathan is far more dangerous. What’s going to happen once I’m forced to say “I do” and I become Nathan’s wife?
CHAPTER EIGHT
After a bumpy, packed flight, Nathan and I reach our hotel in Vegas just after midnight. He offers to order room service for dinner. I’m too tired and too shell-shocked. I beg off for a shower in our luxurious suite. When I climb out, wearing my thickest winter plaid as armor, Nathan is gone.
His absence is a relief. At least that’s what I tell myself.
It’s a lie. Even if I don’t like anything about him except the way he makes my body feel, I’m in a city I’ve never been to. He intends on changing my life forever tomorrow. And I feel so alone.
When I wake the following morning, he’s missing again. I know he returned in the middle of the night. He laid behind me, his arm wrapped around me, his lips skating up my neck as he got me off with his hand, swallowed my cries of pleasure with a demanding kiss, then told me to go back to sleep.
What’s happening? I don’t understand.
Suddenly, a knock sounds at my door. I leap up to answer it. Maybe Nathan forgot his key?
When I yank back the heavy slab, it’s not my groom. Instead, a room service attendant stands in a starched uniform with a plastic smile. “Your breakfast. Where would you like it?”
Nathan must have ordered it, but where did he go?
“Over there.” I point absently to the window—then nearly gasp at our amazing, unimpeded view of the Strip that I was too tired and too angry to notice last night.
“Hey, girl!”
I whirl to find my bestie dashing into my hotel room, sizing up the view, then checking out the help, who’s attractive in a buttoned-up way, before grabbing me in a big hug. “Jen! W-what are you doing here? How did you know I was here?”
“Surprise! Maid of honor to your rescue. Your fiancé called me yesterday, since you didn’t.” She sends me a pointed glare. “We talked, and he flew me here. Despite the rocky start you two had, I think you’ve got a keeper.”
“Clearly, he bamboozled you. Did you forget the part where he’s forcing me to marry him?”
The room service attendant sends us a sideways glance, then hands me a scrap of paper and a pen. “Sign, please.”
I do, giving the guy an obscene tip since it’s coming from Nathan’s pocket, then jot down Jen’s phone number for good measure. As I hand the slip back, I gesture to my bestie. “She’s single, and she’s here all weekend.”
He looks her up and down with a hot flare in his eyes.
When she flashes him a kittenish smile, I groan. I should have known she’d be thrilled I gave a hot stranger her digits.
“Thanks.” He winks at Jen, then shuts the door behind him.
My bestie giggles. “Nice try. You should see your face.”
“Ugh, what’s wrong with me? I can’t even yank your chain right.”
“You’re too nice. But that’s okay; I balance you out.” She wags her dark brows. “So tell me about the wedding?”
“I don’t know anything. He informed me yesterday that the wedding is today. That’s all I know. What did he tell you?”