Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
I needed her to watch over me then, but I don’t need it anymore. I’m thirty-three and have already had more success than most people could achieve in a hundred lifetimes. I’ve started two multi-billion dollar businesses and been in charge of thousands of people. I can take care of myself.
“How long have you known this girl?” she asks, narrowing her eyes on me.
I swallow hard as I stare back at her. “Does that really matter?”
“Yes,” she says with a laugh. “Of course, it matters. You’re a billionaire, Quinn. You don’t think there’s an army of women trying to get their hooks into you?”
“Maybe, but Jemma isn’t one of them.”
She tilts her head as she gives me a look.
“Just trust me.”
“I do,” she says with a heavy breath. “It’s her I don’t trust.”
I sigh as I look at my sister who I haven’t seen in a year. Her hair is lighter and she’s very tanned. She always loved the sun and I’m sure she gets more than enough of it in Hawaii. She looks good. She looks happy. Besides her skepticism of the love of my life, it’s nice to see her.
“Just get to know her over the week,” I say as we head back into the living room with everyone else. “You’ll love her as much as I do.”
Willow doesn’t look so sure.
CHAPTER SIX
Jemma
“Try sprinkling a bit more flour on the counter so the dough doesn’t stick,” Quinn’s mom, Linda, says as I make a mess of the sugar cookie dough while trying to roll it out. Quinn is at their neighbors’ house with his dad repairing a fence, so I’m all alone with the girls making sugar cookies and listening to Christmas songs. I’m trying to make a good impression, but this damn sticky dough is not cooperating.
“Is this your first time making cookies?” Willow asks with a bit of a smirk.
“First time that’s not out of the box,” I say as I sprinkle some flour onto the counter, making an even bigger mess.
Linda comes to help, so I step back and watch the master do her thing. She cleans up my mess by getting the unruly dough back under control. “Like this,” she says as she flattens it with the powdery rolling pin. “It’s easier when the dough is chilled. It’s been out too long.”
“We can finish up if you want to go in the living room and relax,” Willow says, standing beside her mom.
“Baking is relaxing,” Linda says, shaking her head. “Jemma is right where she needs to be.”
Nothing with Willow is relaxing. This girl is stressing me out. I thought Hawaiians were chill and cool, but this girl has been giving me nasty looks the entire time she’s been here. I can’t believe I was actually excited to meet her. I feel like a fool.
She was staring daggers at me all throughout dinner last night, and this morning at breakfast, she offered everyone at the table scrambled eggs except for me.
Quinn says she’s always been a bit standoffish when she meets someone, but I think it’s more than that. I know when someone doesn’t like me and this chick hates my guts.
Linda heads to the garage to get some more flour and I suck in a breath, building up my courage to face Willow head-on. I don’t like letting things stir under the surface. I’m the kind of person who likes to know where they stand with people.
“Did I do something to offend you?” I ask her when we’re alone. “You don’t seem to like me.”
She tosses the dirty spatula into the sink and shuts off Mariah Carey’s screeching. I swallow hard as she turns around, glaring at me while crossing her arms.
“How long have you known my brother?”
“Not too long…”
“How long?”
“We met… two days ago.”
Her face drops. “You’re kidding me.”
“It was love at first sight.”
She rolls her eyes. “Love at first sight?”
I nod, still not quite believing it myself. It was such a magical night. I still get shivers whenever I think about it.
“And the fact that he’s a billionaire had nothing to do with it?”
I jerk my head back in shock. “What? Quinn is a… billionaire?”
My head is spinning as I try to make sense of everything. I knew he sold a company that he owned and has a nice car, but I figured that… I don’t know what I figured. I didn’t really think about it.
I guess I knew he had to be a millionaire, but I was thinking maybe one or two million. I didn’t really think about it that much, I was too lovestruck to consider it. When I think of Quinn, I think of the muscles under his shirt, his devastatingly sexy smile, the way his hands feel on me… I think of what’s hidden in his pants, not what’s hidden in his wallet.