Total pages in book: 235
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
“I’ll take care of the groom,” Tessa declares, shooing me toward the door. “Jesse, come on.”
Something catches my eye. Or, more to the point, something doesn’t. “Wait.” My hand brushes the hollow of Ava’s throat. “Where’s your diamond?”
“Shit.” Her panic is clear, her hand feeling all over her bare chest where the diamond once rested neatly. “Shit, shit, shit. Mum!”
I would have accepted the first curse, but four? “Ava, please, watch your mouth.”
“Don’t panic.” Elizabeth is on her knees in a second, feeling around the carpet while my eyes dart, looking for the diamond.
“Here it is.” Tessa retrieves it and dangles it in the air, looking pleased with herself.
I take it more harshly than I mean to, snatching it from her grasp. “Turn around,” I order, and Ava pivots quickly, letting me secure it firmly around her neck. “There.” I can’t help a final taste of her skin, my hips pushing forward automatically. Shit. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m a fucking glutton for punishment.
“That’ll teach you for frolicking on the floor,” Elizabeth snaps. “Now, out.” I’m seized, but I think better of trampling her further, grinning when Ava cheekily curtseys and waves. Twenty minutes—I have twenty minutes to shower, shave, dress, and head down to the summer room to wait for my girl.
This episode served its purpose. My heart is steady once again.
I’m pushed out the door before it’s slammed behind me, and I wander around the landing, smiling like an idiot. Entering my designated suite, I hear my mobile ringing. I’m still smiling as I pick up my phone off the unit.
But my beam falls immediately when I see who’s calling me.
Reject, that’s what I should do, but I also don’t want to antagonize her, especially today. I stall for a few seconds, gritting my teeth. Why? God damn it, I thought we’d established where we both stood. Mistakenly, it seems. “Fuck’s sake.” I stab at the connect button. “Coral.”
“I didn’t think you’d answer.”
“Then why call?” I sound curt, and I shouldn’t care. But I can’t risk her delusional arse turning up and upsetting Ava. I take a deep breath and head for the bathroom.
“It’s not too late, you know.”
Oh my God, I don’t think I’ve ever known a woman to clutch at straws so tightly. Except, of course . . . Sarah.
I don’t know how many times I can say the same thing with different words. “Coral, please, I beg you, move on.” I flick on the shower.
“I can’t.”
My eyes roll, my mind unable to compute such tenacity. It’s embarrassing.
“Can I stay at The Manor?” she asks.
I still, staring at the water pouring down into the shower tray. “What?”
“I have nowhere to go, Jesse.”
“Your parents. You said you could go to your parents when they’re back.”
“I can’t face them.”
That’s her bad luck. I almost start laughing. Almost. “Not a chance. Fucking hell, Coral, have you lost your fucking mind?” She knows where I stand.
“But you said you would help me.”
“I have helped you. I put you up in a hotel for more nights than we agreed. You’re on your own.” I grind the words out slowly, yanking a towel from the shelf. “I told you, I’m marrying Ava.”
“Yes, today, I know.”
I’m still again. Yes, I’ve told her, but I never said when or where. “From whom?”
“I heard Sarah’s left too.”
“You sure are keeping good tabs on me.”
“I know you have feelings for me, Jesse. Why are you lying to yourself?”
Feelings? Yes, actually, I do. I fucking despise her. She’s deluded. And, worryingly, given everything I’ve been through in my past life, I’m beginning to wonder if Coral is slightly unstable, because not in anyone’s world would they be rejected so many times and still believe it’s love. “Listen to me.” I’m so tired of going over the same old shit. Over and over again. I’m starting to shake, my earlier contented state obliterated. “There’s a woman in a room just down the hall who has my heart. She owns me, Coral. She consumes every ounce of my thinking space, even when I have your whining voice in my ear. There’s not a person on God’s green fucking earth who will ever sever or influence what I feel for her, least of all you.” I take a deep breath. “I don’t see you, Coral. I see no one, except her, and I’m twenty minutes away from making it official in the eyes of God. The only thing that’ll separate us is death, do you hear me?”
She says nothing, but I hear a low weeping sound. And now she cries. From spiteful to pitiful. I can’t even feel guilty. I feel nothing for her. I hang up. I don’t have time for this, and I certainly won’t be keeping Ava waiting.
I shower and shave in fifteen minutes flat, then throw on my suit and head for the door.