Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Fire fills my veins. It takes everything in me not to lay her bare right here and now. However, as the words fully penetrate, I hear the words she doesn’t say.
“You’re not ready,” I say and nod as I back off.
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, baby. I’m always going to give you what you need. And when you’re ready, I’ll give you what you want and need.”
Chapter 42
Not with Me
Shawna
I wake with a smile on my face. Last night was amazing. I think I’m falling for Joshua. The way he looked into my eyes to say I wasn’t ready and he’d wait, I felt seen and understood.
It’s not that I didn’t want to. I just feel like I need to take my time. I don’t want to jump into something and find myself lost again.
I squeal before I can stop myself. Covering my mouth, I pull myself together and throw the covers back to get out of bed and shower. I can’t wait to spend the day with him.
I’m out of the shower and dressed when I go down to see if he’s having breakfast. The house seems so still. As if no one is here with me.
The doorbell rings and I furrow my brow. My heart sinks. I know he’s gone. I go to answer the door when the bell rings for the second time. When I open the door, there are two guys with roses in their arms.
“Shawna Norris?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Let’s get these in and then we can work on the rest,” he says to his partner.
I move out of the way to allow them in. They make about five trips. Soon the front of the house is filled with roses.
“Sign here, please,” the guy says, holding out a clipboard.
I sign, then take the card he holds out to me. I close the door behind them and open the card to read it.
I’m sorry I couldn’t wait to say goodbye. I had to get back to Vander. Something came up. I miss you already. I’ll call you when I get a moment.
Josh
I try not to listen to the voice telling me he left because I didn’t want to sleep with him. That would be a Danny move. Joshua cuddled on the couch with me and made me feel safe after our dance. I have no reason to doubt him.
Kelex
“Is this a joke? Does he think this will make me accept his invitation? How the fuck did this even happen?” I bellow at Zoe and Achilles while we’re in my home office.
“It’s one of our smaller entities. When you asked me to find a way to fund the film studio for the kids without giving anyone controlling interests in their PI, I decided to sell off shares.
“He purchased through a trust, so it wasn’t a red flag at first. Jeff happened to call for a favor. When he came over to talk, he saw the name on a folder and informed me it was one of your father’s,” Achilles says.
“And you didn’t pick up on this?” I say to Zoe.
“No, this isn’t one I know of.”
“Bro, this is a new one. I only know about it because he used the same one to fuck me over in a deal not too long ago,” Jeff says.
“Thanks for bringing this to my attention, man.”
“No problem,” Jeff replies. “What about the ball? Are you going to go?”
“I think you should. It couldn’t hurt,” Zoe says.
“Why now? What the fuck is his problem? There’s no way he could know about the deal,” I seethe.
“We can’t be sure of that. I’ve been wondering who made that call to the caseworker, now this. A lot has been going on in Crete. You still have an aunt left there. Her and her husband are still upset about your aunt and cousins.”
“Why the fuck did he spare her?”
“She wasn’t in on the attempts. They are still his children. That couldn’t have been easy to execute.”
I roll my eyes. He should’ve killed the bitch. If there’s still someone in Greece who’s feeding my father information, I want them gone.
“Dump the company. Sell off the rest,” I bite out.
“What?” Achilles says in surprise.
“I said dump it.”
“Josh, I said it was one of our smaller ones, but it’s still worth about fifty million.”
“So it’s no loss. Dump it.”
Jeff releases a low whistle. I ignore him. My mind is racing to figure out my father’s angle. Why buy shares in one of my companies? What’s his endgame?
“Are you for real?”
I stare at Achilles with a blank expression. I normally don’t have to repeat myself. We’ve worked well together in the past.
“I don’t wait for my enemies to take a win. Once you show me you want war, I show no mercy. This man left me for dead because he couldn’t control me.