Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 26557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
The memory of his body touching mine and his lips tasting like heaven hits me in the chest, making me moan and drop my head back into his hand.
“I was sure you were going to ask me to leave.” I whisper to the ceiling, the depth and rawness of that truth making my throat tighten. “I don’t want to leave your house, but I don’t know where to go. Even with the money Mom left, I don’t know what to do without you.”
A sob clutches around my chest as Cade slides next to me, all the dreams of his hands cradling me against his chest come true in that moment of pure truth. But, if he knew the horrible truth, the destruction I caused, this would all be over before it began.
CHAPTER 4
Cade
What am I doing?
Sitting here in a fucking limo in the rain, trying to talk down my dick while I’m losing my fucking mind, that’s what.
Lennie ran into the house through the rain as soon as Henry parked the car and I’m sitting here trying to figure out my next move. Something I never do.
I always know the next move. But everything has changed. My brain is on fire and when I got my fingers on that slick little pussy, I lost control. I lost myself.
The old Cade Jamison is gone and he’s been replaced by this man who breaks his promises.
I’m not a saint. I make shitty deals and twist the truth and tell outright lies to get what I want. But I never break a promise. I don’t make many of them, mind you, but one of the biggest ones was telling Lilith I would take care of Lennie as my own daughter for the rest of my life. That she would never know that our marriage was just for show because she wanted her to believe in love.
Calling her those things while I fingered her tight little virgin opening…fuck, I’ve tried to keep my demons at bay but they are out now and there’s no putting them back.
The worst part, she is my little girl. Deep in my black rotten gut I know that’s the truth. I love her.
Fuck me, I love her so much. And in ways a father shouldn’t. But that seems to matter less and less, minute by minute, since I saw that fucker’s hands on her.
Now, I know what’s started. A media storm that will take an entire PR agency to spin and a few of my top paying attorneys as well, most likely. Lennie is my top priority, but she’s at the center of this storm as well, and I need to man the fuck up and take care of business.
I don’t remember the last time it rained but as I step out of the back of the limo and motion for Henry to go, the cool deluge soaks my hair and face as I stare up at the stone and brick house with its classic ivy and slate roof. I paid cash for the thirteen-thousand square foot mansion with seven acres and multiple other smaller structures. I had a custom garage built to match, with an enormous apartment above just for my mother’s visits, hoping she would decide to leave Brooklyn, Michigan and live here with me.
That didn’t happen and that structure burned to the ground the night I met Lennie, putting a quick end to the celebration of the fake marriage to her mother. I was sure that disaster was a sign but it was too late. One look at Lennie and something clicked in my heart. I mourned the loss of all my classic cars and motorcycles, but perspective is everything. I nearly lost my mother. So when they pulled her out, alive but badly burned on her legs, there was no amount of classic cars that mattered.
She lived, she’s in a wheelchair now but as stubborn and independent as ever. I spent every day in the hospital with her, then flew her home at her insistence in my private jet, overseeing the renovations to our family home to make it not just wheelchair accessible, but customized with every doodad and equipment that would make her life easier.
This place is a far cry from the thousand square foot little bungalow on the farm back home It wasn’t a home really until Lilith and Lennie settled in.
Shame chills me as I walk through the still-open front door, Marlene and Carl, the house managers, lingering in the hallway waiting to see what’s what.
Lennie has always been quiet and I’m sure her running into the house in clear distress through the pouring rain has them worried.
“Everything’s okay. Just…” I shake my head, handing my drenched jacket to Marlene. “Just take the night off. In fact, take the weekend off.”
They stare at me like I’m speaking Latin. “Weekend, off?” Carl repeats and I nod.