Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 25536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Lucian was a womanizer in every sense of the word, but as far as she could recall, he was not the kind of man who would force his attentions on a girl or make false promises to get into a girl's pants.
And sure, there were more than one occasion that his acerbic tongue had countless residents running away in tears, but since Cassidy herself was known to do this, she could not in all conscience hold this against him.
There must be something else I'm missing here, but what?
Cassidy racked her mind for all the things she could remember about William's cousin. Her boss once mentioned that Lucian was a year younger, so that made him thirty-five...and thirteen years older than Audra's twenty-two.
There also was that time when William had the sports channel running in the background while he was working, and when he saw her glancing at the TV in surprise, he had explained that it was a Top Ten feature on Athletes Who Should've Gone Pro, and that Lucian was one of them.
Apparently, Lucian had been a kick-ass football player back in the day, and he had broken hearts by the thousands in Liverpool when he turned his back on professional sports and instead pursued a medical degree.
His fans had mourned what could've been, saying over and over that he could have contributed so much to the sport, but ironically enough, it was actually Lucian's decision to become a doctor that enabled him to contribute something of far greater value.
Despite his relatively young age, William's cousin was nowadays considered as one of the world's most in-demand orthopedic surgeons, and the world's biggest names in sports credited Lucian for saving them from what could've been career-ending injuries.
A sports hero in a nutshell, albeit not in the way his fans had hoped, and so for Audra to act as if he was the Devil reincarnate...
"I give up," Cassidy said finally. "I can't think of a single reason why you seem so scared—-" She saw Audra quickly shake her head, and Cassidy's confusion grew. "So...you're not scared?"
"I was in his class once," Audra admitted. "And it wasn't that he said or did anything scary, I mean, he's not like that, you know. But...it's just...he makes me feel weird."
"Weird?'
"It's probably because he's the only famous person I know," Audra reasoned out uneasily, "and that's why I feel weird."
"But weird how?"
"I'm just always tongue-tied and restless when he's around. I can't seem to keep still, and it feels like I'm always about to run a fever."
"I see."
"I think it's because I'm worried if I mess up, he'd bite my head off."
"Oh."
Audra started gnawing on her lip. "Whatever his message is, it's gotta be bad, right?"
Cassidy couldn't answer right away.
"Miss?"
Merciful Lord, save me.
Was it her job to tell Audra that what she was probably feeling was sexual attraction?
CLASSES HAD ENDED FOR the day, but Audra had yet to recover from this morning's message. Apparently, even Dr. Stanhope had heard about Audra skating on thin ice with her thesis, and he wanted her to know he could offer her private lessons...if she so chose.
But would she so choose, considering how weird she always felt in her presence?
As someone who had studied in a ladies' school run by nuns from nursery to high school, Audra knew next to nothing about the opposite sex. But the difference between right and wrong, she did know, and the term "private lessons", mm...
It could be misconstrued in so many ways that were wrong, and Audra supposed that was the reason Dr. Stanhope had asked his cousin (the hospital director himself, imagine!), who then very properly asked his secretary (Ms. Dawson was too lovely to be called a monster by most, really!) to deliver such a message.
But...the question still remained: would she so choose?
Four years had already passed since she that time she attended Dr. Stanhope's class. She had been eighteen then, fresh out of St. Mary's Academy, and Audra could still remember quite vividly how the mere sight of him had her tensing up like he was an executioner sent to burn her at the stakes.
Not that he made her feel like a witch, of course.
If anything, he was the one who had witch-like powers, with the way he always made her feel so, so...weird.
Audra's steps slowed, and a sigh slowly slipped past her lips. Dr. Stanhope's "message" also included a specific time and place, and she only had minutes to spare if she still wanted to make it in time.
What to do, what to do, what to do...
LUCIAN STANHOPE LEANED back against the leather cushion of his chair. It was five minutes to eight already, and with his secretary long gone, he was all alone in his private office. Logic told him he was waiting for nothing, but here he still fucking was...