Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
She followed him and Nathan through the door and positioned her back at the wall near the entrance. “Nathan, your things are set up in the guest room. I’ll show you the way when you’re done here.”
Jay strode through his sitting room and weaved through the clutter of guitars, amps, and mic stands with Nathan on his heels. He used the room as his personal studio, writing music, mixing samples, composing songs about Charlee. Their real studio was twenty feet below and stretched the length of their ranch-style estate.
At the hallway, he stopped and looked over his shoulder. “I’ve got her from here.”
Nathan’s eyebrows dipped over his narrowed glare. “I need to see where she’s sleeping.”
And Jay needed to clear the room of smoke, dope, blow and whatever else he had stashed, including the gear he was sure he’d left on the bathroom counter. Nathan knew about the drug use, but he didn’t need to be reminded of it his first night away from Charlee. “Tony swept the room. And you know where she’s sleeping. In my bed.” He verbalized the last part to set boundaries and roles, and to test the reaction.
As expected, Nathan’s back snapped straight and his hands balled at his sides. He wasn’t ready to leave her side.
“Just let him see.” Her sleepy mumble drifted over his neck and sent a tingle down his spine. “He won’t sleep well if he doesn’t check it out himself.”
Jay looked down into her half-lidded eyes and his heart thumped. He hated that she knew another man so well, but he reminded himself that their closeness kept her alive. “Good morning.”
She squirmed to get down even as her fingers combed through the hair at his nape. “It’s morning?”
He let her feet touch the floor, but didn’t release her. “It’s around two or three.”
In the circle of his arms, she shuffled backward, pulling him along by his belt loop. “Let’s see your room.”
“Our room.” He tried to skirt around her, his guilt over wanting to hide his drug cache squashed by his embarrassment for having it in the first place. “Hang on a second.”
Ignoring him, she spun out of his arms, moving a few feet beyond his reach, beyond the circle they had spent hours joined in. A chill invaded his empty arms. Her eyes widened, locked on his. Did she feel it too?
She probably wasn’t aware of her shoulders curling forward as she rubbed her biceps and scuffed her boots over the white marble floors into the bedroom. Eyes sweeping the white walls, she zigzagged around the white leather couch, the white pine furniture, and the sheet of one-way windows overlooking the pool and grounds. At the foot of the bed, she leaned against one of the massive posts and stared at the expanse of white linen.
Nathan prowled the perimeter of the room and disappeared into the bathroom. Fuck. Jay braced for the impending lecture.
“What do you have against color?” She looked around the room and eyed his black t-shirt, black pants, black Chucks.
He shrugged. “Purple leather pants are out of fashion.”
A laugh rolled past her curved lips, and she collapsed on the bed. Long tresses spread out around her angelic face and blazed rivulets of fire over the white bedding. Her flawless complexion glowed under the angled lighting as she stretched. The arch of her torso, the ripple in the hollow of her belly, and the languid blink of her eyes seeped sensuality. She was so beautiful, and so unaware of it. His muscles strained with the effort to keep himself from falling over her and ravishing her like an animal.
“Oh God, this is heaven. I mean, seriously, if I were to imagine the light at the end of the tunnel, it would be as bright as this room.” She twisted a finger around a lock of hair. “Pick a color. Tell me your favorite.”
“Red.”
She released the fiery coil around her finger like it singed her.
“Second to blue.” He stared into the depths of his favorite shade and she blinked, coughed.
“Then what’s up with the all-white decor?”
He turned toward the black sky beyond the windows and his reflection glowered back. The reason was simple. And haunting. “I don’t like the dark.”
“The shed was dark.”
Hearing his toxic shit whispered in her sweet voice built a pressure behind his breastbone.
“Jay. A word?” Nathan’s shout tumbled from the bathroom.
“Here we go.” He flashed her a guilty look before he could stop himself. Shit. He strode across the room and through the archway to the master bath, loosening his limbs to absorb the confrontation.
Fists on his hips, Nathan scowled at the waste basket between his boots. He’d emptied the cabinets of every pill, pipe, and baggie, filling the can mid-way. “Am I missing anything?”
Yeah, he was missing the bulk of it, hidden throughout his bedroom. Jay would deal with that later when he wasn’t under the watch of stabbing eyes. He shook his head.