Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
I return home from college to a nightmare, discovering my parents plan to marry me off. Rather than being forced into a loveless marriage, I grab my cat and embark on an adventurous journey to the wild west. I may be trying to find myself, but what I find instead is the handsome Jack Graysen. Or rather, he finds me.
Jackson Graysen
Finding people is what I do. I'm the best in the business at bagging and tagging runaways, missing moguls, and runaway reprobates of the rich and famous. The heiress, Paisley Woods, should be no different. At least that was my initial motive--but then I saw her. Now I don't intend to return her. She's mine for the taking, and mine for the keeping. The only problem is, she has no idea who I really am or that her parents hired me to find her. When she discovers the truth, I'll use every tool in my arsenal to keep her by my side, and I have no problems playing dirty.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
JACKSON
Pulling open my desk drawer, I grab the bottle of Advil and pop a couple back. I went too hard this morning in the gym. My shoulder throbs. Five years and it still fucks with me. I knew the second the bullet ripped through me, my career as a DEVGRU with the Navy Seals was over.
Not that I regret it. That last mission was worth it. The lives we’d saved. I knew when I shifted my body in front of Blu’s the shot would end my career, but it would have ended his life if I hadn’t. I saw the shot coming. What I didn’t see coming was me spending most of my days sitting behind a desk. How times have changed.
I glance up when a knock sounds on my open door. Speak of the devil himself.
“Blu.” I give him a nod, inviting him in. “How are your assignments going?”
“Fine.” He drops a few folders down on my desk. “How do you sit at this desk all day? I’ve been doing it for a week and my ass is already killing me.”
Blu got out of the Seals six months ago. He reached out, and I hired him on the spot. It’s handy when you own a security company and have access to Seals. Almost all of my employees have a strong military background.
“Everyone works the desk,” I tell him again. I don’t just drop men out on jobs. Knowing how to collect information is as important as working in the field. I want my employees to know how to do all the ins and outs.
“I know, but can you give me something hard? I found the Woods girl in a few hours.” I’m not shocked. How far could a runaway heiress get? I’d bet my life the girl has never even flown commercial. Either way, this is going to be an easy million.
“Did she make it very far?” I didn’t think she would.
“Aren't you from Cottonwood Creek?”
“Yeah.” I grab the folder. “Why?”
“That’s where she is.”
“Damn, she got that fucking far?” That’s halfway across the country. Not only that, it’s a small town. I was sure she’d go somewhere closer or to a big city.
“Been there two weeks.”
“I’ll be damned.” I flip the folder open. Her picture is paper-clipped to the first page on the top corner. I pull it off, an unexplained urge hitting me to run my fingers over it.
She’s a tiny thing, but most people are compared to me. Her big green eyes hold me captive. My heart begins to pound, my mind starting to buzz like a hive of bees has been set loose inside it.
Her skin is pale with rosy cheeks, reminding me of one of those porcelain dolls my little sister would carry around. Thick long black hair hangs in loose waves, almost meeting her hips. It spills out all around her, covering up her tits that appear to be the perfect handful. Not any hand. My hands.
A rush of desire slams into me wrapped in a coat of protectiveness. This naïve little princess is running around all on her own. In my town. I don’t want to think about the men I know that live there trying to make a move on her. They're not the only ones I have to worry about, either. There are the soldiers from the Army base that’s on the outskirts who often slip into town for the night.
“There are still a few flights out to Denver today. I’ll have to rent a car and drive the rest, but I’m sure you know that. Going to swing by my place and—”
“I’ll be getting her.” I cut him off. I don’t know what’s come over me. Actually, I do, but it’s a crazy thought, and I’m not ready to even entertain it.
“Desk getting to your ass too?” he jokes.
“Something like that.” I am barely listening to Blu now. All I can think about is getting to her.
When I’d been contacted about taking the Woods job, I glanced over the details and handed it off. I had read nothing about her, and I most definitely didn’t see her fucking picture. Runaway princesses are usually not my priority. I had passed it down to Blu so he could get his feet wet.
Reading through the file now, I think Paisley Woods is a whole lot more naïve than I could have anticipated. The girl had spent a big chunk of her life living in Switzerland at a boarding school. Then she went off to college. It too was tucked away with only four hundred students. Again, all females. She only graduated a few months ago.
I pull my phone out, closing the file. I’ll read the rest of it on my flight. I check to see if one of the two planes I own for Graysen Security are available. We use them when time can be of the essence.