Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 108656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
He was starting to think of her as more, as his Pru. Not Trash or any other word he used to call her. She was his just as he was hers. It was cliché as fuck, but he couldn’t bring himself to part from her. He didn’t want to part from her, ever.
“How about I finish us some food?” she asked. “We watch a movie or something? Maybe go for a walk.”
“Food sounds good. So long as I’m with you. I’ll do anything.”
“Just how long do I have this more amenable guy around?”
“Consider this a special gift as it’s your birthday.”
“Oh, I’m lucky?”
“That you are, baby. Really lucky. I will be on my best behavior from now until, well, we head back home Sunday.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Let’s not think about Sunday. Let’s just think about this weekend. Taking each moment as it comes and not freaking out about it. What do you think?”
“I like that sound of that.” He kissed her lips and when she moaned, the sound went straight to his cock. All he wanted to do was take her to his bed and have her.
You’ve got to take your time with her.
She’s a virgin.
You love her.
You want to care for her.
You don’t want to leave her.
Against all the odds, he had fallen for her, and now, he had to find some way to keep her. He wasn’t under any illusions about his parents. He knew they both cheated and there were men and women waiting for them back at any location where they put them.
You could just kiss your wealth goodbye and run.
It wasn’t the running away that scared him when it came to spending his time with Pru. Far from it. He’d gladly run anywhere she wanted to go so long as he got to spend every second with her.
No, it was what his parents would do to them.
They could run and he could live without his wealth but if they set out to destroy them, could he protect her? He honestly didn’t think he could, and that scared him. All he wanted to do was protect her. Love her. Take care of her.
The real truth was he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her without anyone interfering or thinking they could run their life. That wasn’t ever going to happen with his parents already making plans for him.
They always wanted what they did and he couldn’t figure out a single way to stop it, unless he became more powerful than them. The fortune becoming his, and he forcing their hand by being bigger, meaner, and turning the cards on them. It would take time.
He’d have to do it slowly so they didn’t suspect anything. He had his own ideas. Regardless of what others thought, he wasn’t stupid. There was a chance of him taking it all from them, and he would.
He watched Pru as she walked back to their food to finish it off. He would have her all to himself, and no one would ever harm her.
He’d make sure of it.
Chapter Eighteen
Birthday
Pru couldn’t believe she was eighteen today. It seemed almost too surreal to think of herself as an adult. Not that her age mattered. She’d been taking care of herself for a long time. At least since they moved to the new town all those years ago when she was just five years old.
Up until that point, she’d been a happy, oblivious child in the city, playing in the small garden. She had no idea her life would change so much, or that a small town could be so … different.
Then, of course, there was Drake, who she had left back at the beach house. Not to punish him or anything. She just needed a little time and space and the only way to get that was to leave him behind.
Running fingers through her hair, she tilted her face up to the sky and closed her eyes. She was alone with Drake. They had argued last night, but that seemed to always be in the cards for them. She hated arguing the most. There were times she wished she could rewrite their summer together. They shouldn’t have ever been alone in a room, let alone kissing or doing anything else.
The moment she started to think about not being around him, though, guilt flooded every inch of her. Could she really be so cruel to him? He’d done nothing wrong to her.
“It’s fine,” she said to no one.
“Are we talking to ourselves now?” Drake asked, startling her as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
“I guess we are.”
“It’s kind of sexy,” he said.
She giggled. “You’re a strange man, Drake. What do you really think is sexy?”
“You. The birthday girl.” He kissed her neck. “Do you feel any different?”
“Did you on your birthday?”