Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 81843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Her heels click against the floor until she stops in front of me. Her eyelids are smoky, and her lashes are thick. Her lips are a pinkish hue that I’d love to see on my cock. Fuck, I’m one lucky man.
She leans to me, pressing her mouth roughly against mine. The taste of champagne is on her breath as her tongue swipes against my lips. I open for her, and she deepens the kiss, her tongue stroking mine like she owns it.
Like she owns me.
How quickly she learns.
She breaks it far too soon with a devious look in her eye.
“Is something wrong?” I smirk, knowing exactly what she’s worked up about.
She gives me a pointed look over her shoulder and returns to the bottle of champagne.
“Imagine my surprise when I arrive in Halcyon this afternoon intending to take a picture in the store to send to you and then leave,” she says, pouring us each a drink. “Only to discover that Nadia, the store manager, was not only waiting for me, but had already pulled quite a selection of things for me to try on.”
I take the glass and nod as if this is new information. “This Nadia must be good at her job.”
“That or she was enticed to do a good job by a certain billionaire with far more money than sense, it seems.”
I hum, taking a sip of my drink.
“Do you know how many things they sent back with me?” she asks, lifting a brow. “They didn’t even ask me. I tried something on, and Nadia decided whether she liked it. Then I was handed the next thing. Everything that passed her inspection—twenty-two items, Jason—was delivered to this room.” She blinks. “Did you hear that? Twenty-two overpriced garments.”
“How curious.”
“How curious, my ass.”
I grin. “Your ass does look amazing tonight. How would you feel if I played with that a little?”
Her eyes widen, and her cheeks flush. “Don’t distract me.”
“Sorry. As you were saying …”
She sighs in exasperation. “That was almost forty thousand dollars.”
“I can’t wait to see it all on you.”
“You’re not listening to me.”
I roll my eyes and set my glass down. “Do you not like it?”
“Yes, but—”
“Does it all fit you well?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Does it not feel good on your body?”
“That’s not the point.”
I smile at her fledgling objections. “Then what is the point?”
“Maybe that’s not a lot of money to you, but it’s a lot of money to me. Like a lot. And I’m not comfortable spending that much cash on clothes.”
“Good thing it’s not your cash then.” It’s ours.
I swipe my glass off the counter and refill it.
It’s a good thing I haven’t mentioned that what’s mine is hers because I know exactly what her objections to that would be.
“Jason …”
I keep my back to her. “I work very hard, Chloe. I spend little time doing anything other than work. And I find one thing that gives me joy, and you want to steal that from me.”
Her silence lets me know I’m on the right track.
“I was just in a meeting with attorneys over a threat against my family. My father has decided to point the finger at Gannon and me—something Gannon doesn’t know yet. While the action in question was absolutely done at his request, it’s a little murky and will, at the very least, cost us an exorbitant amount of time and even more stress.”
I turn to her. She’s standing like a vixen in the middle of the kitchen, watching me warily.
She’s so damn beautiful that it takes my breath away. It’s not even her traditional beauty, although it’s that, too. It’s her sincerity. Her openness and honesty. The way her heart shines as brightly as her eyes.
I’m falling in love with her and falling fast and hard. And there’s nothing I can do about it.
“Do you know what got me through the morning?” I ask before taking another drink. “You. I imagined you shopping and having lunch inside the store. I knew they’d fawn over you and care for you.” I drink again, holding her hesitant gaze. “I don’t give a fuck about money, Chloe. I have it. A lot of it. I’ve worked for some of it, and some I had given to me. But I watched my father and my mother, to some degree, waste their lives in a quest to have more of it. And I can’t help but think that if they’d spent some of that energy and money on each other, things would’ve worked out differently.”
She narrows her eyes, as if she’s mulling that over.
“I told you I was going to spoil you and treat you like I think you should be treated,” I remind her. “If you don’t like this, say the word, and I’ll stop. But don’t say you don’t like it because you think you’re taking too much. Because coming in here tonight and seeing you like this—confident and sexy—it’s worth every fucking penny to me.”