Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 24429 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24429 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Jesse wasn't busy surfing through paperwork or staring at the screen on his Mac with that furrowed brow of annoyance as I expected. His hands were folded perfectly across the expanse of his rock-hard abdominals as his eyes burned into mine from across the room. The carved steel of his jaw flexed as a rush of Judas warmth exploded between my legs.
God, he’s handsome.
No, not handsome. Fuckable, but more. Lovable, sure, but still more.
Like a father you don’t want to disappoint, but even if you do, you know he will love you and protect you and forgive you.
And fuck you.
Oh my God. The little bit of glue that was holding me together was melting. I could feel it.
"Explain," he said, his voice calmer than I deserved. "Start at the beginning. Tell me what happened last night."
"I didn’t have a ride and…or a place to crash.” I desperately tried to form some sort of realistic story that didn’t include several misdemeanors, but I was in no condition for this.
Fuck it. I had to get a drink.
With a deep exhale, I pushed off the sofa, stumbled, reached out for the door handle, and the floor turned to liquid as my equilibrium sent me nearly crumbling into the wall.
“I’ll be back. I’m gonna grab some liquid breakfast.”
My friend Black Cherry White Claw should make this all better.
“Sit your ass down, little girl,” Jesse barked from behind his desk.
My feet stuck to the uniquely pristine floor of Jesse’s office as I processed each thick, sexy word.
“Did you just call me a little girl?”
He bolted upright, the desk chair slamming into the wall, banging both his fists on the top of the desk and sending my heart like a rocket into my throat. Dry air prickled my throat as I took in a sharp breath.
“I said sit your ass down.” His booming voice echoed inside the room and in my head.
“Jesus, Jesse. What the fuck?” He’d never talked to me like this before. I took note of the veins in his neck, like fire hoses ready to burst.
His dark eyes cut into me as I rolled my eyes and shuffled back toward the couch, secretly relieved to not be upright anymore. I flopped down, exhaling hard.
“Do you have any idea who you are hurting, Kat?”
“I’m not hurting anyone,” I mumbled, picking at the peeling blue nail polish I borrowed from Jenette’s stockpile.
“You’re acting like a selfish brat, Katrina. Everything your brother gave up to raise you and this is where you end up? Don’t you remember your parents?”
“Who the fuck are you? It’s none of your god-damn business what I do. You don’t want me to work here? Then I’ll go. But I don’t need the fucking lecture, okay?”
Bullets of pain shot through my head and my heart as Jesse glared in stony, sexy silence, his fists balled, and I felt a quick jab of fear as I put together just how much damage he could do to me if so inclined.
In so many ways.
“This ends now. It’s over, Kat. Done. I tried to do things your way, because I promised Kent after that night I would never interfere with your life, because that’s what he wanted, but my oaths to your brother don't trump this.”
My stomach sank. He was being an ass, but he was all I had. Something had always seemed to bring us back together, and he was the safest thing in my life.
And the truth behind it all was I was ashamed. Down to my marrow. The self-loathing, especially on mornings like this, was dangerous. To myself.
"The drinking stops," he said. "Today."
That took me by surprise. What the fuck? “My body, my choice,” I said, not caring that I was misusing the phrase. “And I can stop anytime I want, I just prefer not to.”
My snotty tone reverberated around us. I was just a little kid again. My big brother’s best friend, who I had been in love with for ten years, was staring at me at probably my lowest point in my life, and I reverted to being the dumb little sister he couldn't quite shake off.
I was hung over, I had no home, no car, no real friends, nothing.
Nobody.
That little girl inside of me that never had parents that loved her, that always felt abandoned and unlovable, needed to fiercely defend her heart right now. I could see the fire behind Jesse’s eyes, and I knew the power he commanded.
“I watched you, Katrina. Last night, I watched you, and because of the promise I made to your brother, I did nothing. ‘Let her live her life, make her mistakes. Don’t ever touch her again, and I’ll try to forget what I just saw.’ Well, fuck that. You’re not safe. Well, you weren’t. But you are now.”
Even the thought of Kent turned my vitriol into grief. That fullness in my throat I always got when fighting off the sobs rendered me unable to take a breath.