Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 162138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
He brings a hand up and cups my face. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
He lets out a heavy exhale and pulls me into his arms. I hug him back just as tightly. We stay that way for a while. I wish it would last forever.
CHAPTER 40
LACHLAN
Because she wants to explore the apartment and we’re pressed for time, we shower separately. We’ll miss the cocktail event if we don’t hurry up, and there’s no way I can keep my hands to myself after what we just did. I follow her back to the foyer. She’s wearing one of my black t-shirts, which fits her like a dress. It probably wasn’t the best choice, since I still can’t stop staring at her legs. I watch her face as she takes in the place. Lyla may have grown up with wealth, but she hates overly extravagant things, so this should be interesting.
The apartment, if you can even call it that, isn’t mine. It’s one of the many luxury residences my father owns. If an important client flies in from out of town to meet with him, he sets them up in one of these. I guess that’s the kind of shit billionaires can do. He sent me to the biggest, most lavish one he owns. It’s an obscene two-story, seven-thousand square foot, four-bedroom, six-bath fully furnished penthouse on East Grand Ave, with the most fantastic 360° view of the city. My first thought, the first time I walked in here was, “Lyla would hate this place.” I’m sure she’ll think it’s nice, because it is, but it’s too much for anyone without a family. Even then, there are too many cons to raising a child here. She looks to the left and frowns. I step up and look with her. Technically, I’m getting a tour as well, since I haven’t cared to explore the entire place. She takes a few steps and looks to the left side.
“Is that an elevator?”
“Yeah, but they’re currently replacing the flooring and mirrors, per my father’s request, so we have to use the other one.”
“Like peasants,” she whisper-shouts as she turns to walk down the hall.
I laugh. Oh, yeah, she’s reeeeeally going to hate this place. She walks to the kitchen, then the living room, and then she stands at the door of the bedroom I use but doesn’t step inside. She turns and walks to the other side of all of this, where there’s a second foyer that leads to a spiral staircase. I bite my lip to keep from laughing at the look on her face as she freezes at the threshold. She mutters something under her breath that I’d kill to hear and walks to the stairs. Setting a hand on the iron handrail, she walks slowly up the stairs. When we reach the second floor, she finds another large living room with a TV and shakes her head.
“Your thoughts?” I ask because I can’t take it anymore.
“You don’t even want to know,” she says, as we continue.
I follow here to the next area — a room with a full bar, pool table, and six huge leather chairs. Next, to the three furnished bedrooms — one with a king size, one with two queens, and another with a toddler bed and cute play teepee. It’s actually pretty nice. Lyla takes a deep breath and turns around to head downstairs, back to my bedroom. She walks past the bed, toward the sitting area with the bookshelf, and two plush white chairs. She sits in one of them and looks out the window. I put my hands in my pockets as I watch her take in the view, wishing I could snap a picture of her right now. Messy hair, no makeup, in an oversized shirt, and she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. So fucking perfect.
I turn and get our suitcases, which Ronnie brought in while we were at the rooftop event that I’m trying to not even think about. The way Sean was laughing at whatever she was saying pissed me the fuck off. Not because she was talking to another man and making him laugh (okay, that was part of the reason). Mostly, I was upset that she was giving someone else something she hadn’t given me since I found her. I know I’ve been a dick and she has no reason to joke around with me, I get it. But still, that shit hurt. Especially after she’d just told me she didn’t care, and that what we have is fake. That shit really hurt. Deep down, I know she cares and knows this is real, but it doesn’t make it easier to hear those words. Not after I’d been the only person who could make her feel and care. I can’t lose that. I won’t. She slaps her hands on her legs as she stands and walks over to me. My heart beats a little faster as she sways her hips and holds my gaze. Fuck, she’s hot. When she reaches me, she stops on the other side of the suitcases. Her beautiful face gives nothing away as she looks up at me. She truly has the best poker face I’ve ever seen.