Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
22
RHYS
TJ and I sat down at the kitchen counter with half a blueberry pie Jacob had made earlier that day. I was shocked Grant hadn’t already finished it off. Jacob’s pies never lasted long.
The hard chair hurt like hell on my sore ass, but I wasn’t about to admit that to TJ. He’d be way too proud of himself. I’d already let him see how desperate he could make me. He didn’t need to know that thanks to the fact that we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, riding was getting more and more difficult for me every day.
TJ groaned when he took a bite of pie, sounding annoyingly similar to how he did when he pushed inside me. “How does Jacob make the crust so perfect?”
“I don’t know.” I barely managed not to sound just as turned on when I took my first bite.
“Even my Nonna—God rest her soul—didn’t make crusts this perfectly flaky. I think he’s some kind of wizard.”
“He must be to put up with my brother.”
TJ grinned. “Your whole family presents quite the challenge.”
I resisted the urge to stick out my tongue at him.
“But you love each other. That must be… I guess it helped when you were younger.”
I studied him for a moment. “It helps now too.”
“My family… It’s not like that. We’re always sizing each other up, trying to figure out who is competition. And now… Shit. Now it’s all falling apart.”
“Do you really want to go back there? Do you want to be part of the family business?”
TJ sighed, and I hated seeing the obvious pain in his eyes. “Yes and no. Family loyalty is deeply ingrained in me, but being here…” He shook his head. “I don’t know anymore.”
Was he really considering not going back? Was that even possible? Could someone leave a family like his? “Did your father at least have the decency to admit he was wrong when he told you about Franco?”
I snorted. “My father will never admit to being wrong. That’s not an option for men like him. He wasn’t the one who told me.”
“Wait. So even now he doesn’t think you know?”
“I’m not sure if my aunt has told him she spilled his secret.”
“Is she the one who told you?”
He took a bite of pie before answering. “Yes.”
I narrowed my eyes, watching TJ intently, but he kept his expression disturbingly neutral. “You’re not going to elaborate on that, are you?”
“I…” He ran a hand over his hair. “I didn’t want to come here. I fought with my father, pushing back harder than I ever have because I didn’t trust Franco, but now… being here has… I don’t talk about my family, not to anyone on the outside. But not telling you seemed ridiculous. I’ve spent the better part of the last week touching you, filling you up. We’ve been…”
“Tell me.”
He looked up, and his eyes widened for a fraction of a second. He’d said those words to me almost every time we fucked, demanding I tell him what I wanted or how he was making me feel. I held his gaze. I wasn’t backing down. I wanted to see if I could push him to open up the way he had pushed me.
“My aunt told me. She’s the one person in my family I trust.”
“She cares about you?” I needed to confirm that. I needed there to be someone who cared about him.
Someone else. You care about him.
But I wasn’t going to remain in his life.
He nodded. “She does. Aunt Van is great. I spent as much time with her as I could after my father remarried. She wasn’t supposed to tell me about Franco, but she knew I needed to know. She’s never been willing to bow down to my father, but she’s supported him. She’s furious with him now. She doesn’t understand how he failed to see how dangerous Franco was long before now.”
“I’m sure she’s right.”
He smiled, and I felt warmth rush through me. More and more, his smile had the power to make me feel a lot more than lust.
TJ liked that I supported him, and no matter how much it might betray the way he was growing on me, I couldn’t do anything else. He didn’t deserve what his father had done to him, and I knew how it felt not to be valued for any more than what you could do to further your father’s career.
“My father thinks he’s the perfect leader, but sometimes he only sees what he wants to see.”
“That’s dangerous as hell. It’s thanks to that kind of shit thinking that Grant ended a career he’d worked damn hard for.”
“His other-than-honorable discharge?”
I studied TJ carefully. “How much do you know about it?”
“Enough that I finally agreed to come here, and I trust and respect him.”
“I won’t give you the details. That’s his story if he chooses to tell it.”