Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 55395 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55395 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“Wow, I mean wow. You probably knew about the house before I did. I found out through the reading of the will. Mom really dotted all her i’s and crossed all her t’s. Her best friend, Naomi, didn’t even know. Apparently, the money Dad made was put into an account to pay the bills down here, and I controlled the ones in North Carolina as his power of attorney. She made it nice and easy probably because when she was sick, Dad was already in the early stages of being diagnosed. Mom knew I would take care of him, so she tried to relieve me from dealing with everything else.” I absolutely hate that she did all of this instead of focusing on herself, except that’s who my mom was, and I’ve got a lot of her in me.
“That’s what she wanted, though, Lili. You know that, right?” Jagger’s hand circles the nape of my neck, where he flexes his fingers, then he shifts his hips, and I get the hint. He wants me closer. His lips touch mine, soft and sweet, and my eyes close. Jagger reads me like a book, always two steps ahead of what I need.
“Yeah,” I whisper against his lips.
“Good. I get you’re still handling stuff and working on yourself. What you may not realize yet is, you’re not doing it alone.” This man, his words, he’s better than anything in this world. Not even the most expensive chocolate could make me trade him, and that’s saying something because my love for chocolate runs deep.
“Thank you.” He pulled back a moment ago, still making good on his threat for us to wait till our conversation is through.
“Don’t gotta thank me. I’m right where I wanna be. Should I continue?” I nod. “Crew is an engineer, has his own firm, and I don’t have much to report on anything love life wise or what he does besides work and hang out with us. I’ll have to pester the shit out of him next time we’re all around each other.”
“Well, I’ll leave that part to you,” I reply teasingly before getting serious. “Jagger, I have to tell you something, and this may change things between us. In fact, I really think it will, and I hate that I’ve only gotten you back, and this could very well end us.” I need to tell him. His friends have children, he’s surrounded by them, and damn it, he would be the best father to anyone he fathered, and I hate that I could take this away from him.
“There’s nothing that bad, Lili.” His hand sifts through my hair. He pulled the hair tie out earlier during our hot and heavy make-out session in the kitchen. His hands were on my waist, ready to lift me up on the counter, when his phone rang. I scurried out from under him, kicked my shoes off by the door, and meandered around the house until he finished his call.
“I don’t want children.” I close my eyes, unable to see the look he’ll no doubt give me. If this is the last time I have Jagger Steele in my life, I want to remember all the good and none of the bad.
“You motherfucker! I can’t believe you did that. Do you know how stupid and incredibly dangerous it is to base jump? You had no service, and none of us fucking knew. We’re damn tired of you going off grid, getting your rocks off for some kind of messed-up thrill where you could wind up dead.” Jagger lifts his body up, taking me with him. I end up straddling his waist. My head turns over my shoulder, and the color drains from my face when I put all the pieces together. Luke is standing in the open doorway, seething with range and worry. Rightfully so, too.
“We’ll talk about this later, promise. That’s Luke, and he’s going to need a doctor himself when I’m through with him.” Jagger drops a kiss to my lips, picks me up, places my on the couch, and storms over to Luke. I see Shadow start slithering toward the door that’s standing open while the two men have a glaring match. They probably don’t even realize we could have an escape artist on our hands. I scoop her up, bring her close to my chest, and sink onto the floor, my back meeting the couch, where I think about the news I just delivered and the news I had slung back via Luke.
Jagger Steele is trying to kill himself. Well, that won’t be happening on my watch. I stand up, spin on my heels, and march toward my man, clearing my throat along the way.
“Please close the door while you two have a stare-off competition. I have something to say.” That breaks them out of their whatever-you-call-it haze.