Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
My anger flares hot. “Or they could have wondered why you were pulling away and tried to check on you.”
“I think they tried,” she assures me. “But I wasn’t about to admit that I’d made a horrible mistake marrying Joshua. That he hit me. I was so embarrassed, and… just admitting that to you is horrifying.”
It’s a struggle not to move to her, take her in my arms… reassure her she’s got nothing to be ashamed of. But with her arms crossed, I can tell it would not be well received. She’s closed off tight.
I rely on words. “You need to let that go, Juniper. You did the best you could with the shitty situation you were in. Joshua manipulated your entire life and—”
“I let him do it,” she quips.
“He had you between a rock and a hard place with your dad. The way I look at it, you suffered and sacrificed so your dad could have the best care. Maybe reframe how this all went down and stop seeing yourself as a victim. You’re a survivor.”
My tone is soft but I know my words are a little harsh. Yet I also know Juniper very well and she doesn’t like things to be sugarcoated—she doesn’t like being pandered to and she appreciates honest talk.
It must work because her arms fall away and her demeanor softens. She offers me a dim smile. “You’re right. I know that.”
My smile back to her is a bit brighter and I add a wink. “And now… you’ve got four new girlfriends and to be honest, I know they’ll pull in the rest of the Titan Queens at some point.”
“Titan Queens?” she asks.
“They even have T-shirts. You’ll love them.”
Juniper frowns in confusion. “A T-shirt?”
“Yup,” I reply, throwing my thumb toward the formal front room I turned into my home office. “I’m going to get a little more work done.”
Juniper yawns, stretching her arms over her head. “I think I’m going to grab a shower and hope it sobers me the rest of the way up. It’s way too early to go to sleep.”
I try not to notice the way her T-shirt rides up to expose a little of her stomach or the way the material pulls taut over her breasts. I most definitely try not to think what she’d look like naked in the shower. I mean, I know what she looks like. Been naked in the shower with her lots of times.
My groin tightens and I turn away from Juniper. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“See ya,” she replies and heads toward the staircase.
With every step I take toward my office, I can’t get the image of a naked, soapy Juniper out of my head, her hands spreading bubbles over her breasts, down her stomach, in between her—
“Fuck,” I groan, my dick now going full-on hard like a schoolboy who got his first peek at a girl’s panties. I hear the upstairs shower come on and the imagery intensifies.
I breeze past my office and traverse the short hall to the first-floor master suite. I dressed casually for the office today, wearing a button-down and nice jeans. I kick off my shoes, remove my shirt and whip the white tee underneath over my head. I head into the bathroom with every intention of taking a shower where I’ll fuck my fist to the thoughts of Juniper upstairs.
And now… I don’t feel like a creep at all doing it. I’ve thought about her on more than one occasion over the years when getting myself off.
Just as I’m reaching in to turn on the water, a bloodcurdling scream reverberates throughout the house and fear sizzles through me.
I’ve never heard Juniper scream and I bolt from my bathroom, leap over the end corner of my bed to cut distance and careen out the door, which catches my shoulder. I mumble a curse as I slip across the hardwoods in my socks but gain traction on the carpeted staircase. I take the steps three at a time and I’m betting no more than ten seconds elapsed from that scream until I’m bursting through her bedroom door, which was closed but not locked.
The upstairs master is much smaller than the downstairs, but it sits at the rear of the house with a beautiful view of the woods beyond the backyard. There’s a small bathroom with a tub and shower and I waste no time running in.
My heart thunders so hard it takes me a second to process that Juniper is completely naked, her hands clutched over her heart as she stares into the shower.
“What is it?” I gasp.
Juniper shrieks, glancing over her shoulder at me briefly before grabbing at the shower curtain. She pulls it away from the tub and across the front of her body. “What are you doing in here?” she shrills.