Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“Your roommate seems to think otherwise.”
“My roommate’s a hopeless romantic!”
Anastasia chokes.
Sorry, Tas.
Hexius, however, doesn’t even smile. “I told you to stay and wait for me.”
Oh, the gall of this man!
“Sorry to disappoint,” I manage to say steadily even though I’m just dying to give him a swift, hard kick a la Anastasia. “I didn’t feel like playing the third wheel.”
“You were never—”
“Ha!”
Some of the people around us actually gasp at the way I’ve cut him off, and I feel horribly mean the moment I hear them. I know I’m being rude, but—
Grr.
The way his golden eyes are gleaming at me right now just makes me want to kick him even more.
I take it back. I don’t care if I was rude earlier. If anything, I wish I was even...um...ruder!
“How remarkably mature of you.”
Unlike Brandy, right?
“Since I keep disappointing you, why are you even wasting time with me? Why not just go to Brandy and live happily ever after?”
I want to take the words back as soon as I say them.
Argh!
Because I’ve just realized I don’t have the courage to hear what his answer is.
But since the past can’t be undone—
“I’m sorry, but I have to go,” I whisper to Anastasia.
The other girl quickly nods even as her fascinated gaze darts between me and that...that man whose name I don’t even want to think of.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I don’t answer, just wanting to get away as fast as I can.
“Is that what you really want me to do? Live happily ever after with another woman?”
No, of course not!
I wish I could simply yell the words out, but I can’t...because I know that’s only going to make me look even more pathetic.
Let’s say he wasn’t lying earlier, and I wasn’t really a third wheel, and Brandy’s visit to his place was nothing romantic (ha!).
Even if that were so—
I realize now it doesn’t change things.
All I have to do is look around, and...ugh.
Surrounded as we are by the most powerful and wealthiest members of L’Alliance gather for all sorts of reasons—
H’s still making waves like always, with how he’s got so many women ogling his powerful form like they want a piece of him...and that’s why I know I was an idiot to even think being with him is worth considering.
Hexius is Hexius while I’m just me. Even if he says I’m supposed to be his most compatible mate, it still doesn’t mean—
“Is this how you tend to solve your problems? By running away?”
Nope, nope, nope.
I’m so not letting him distract me into slowing down. L’Alliance rules may force him to match my human pace in public areas, but all it takes is one mistake, and I know he’ll catch up to me.
“All you have to say is yes or no.”
Focus, Sam! Keep your head in the game.
The corridor stretches ahead, and the attendants who greeted me earlier are bowing their heads as we pass them by, the curiosity in their gaze unmistakable.
“Or perhaps you’re just playing hard to get?”
Grrr.
I know what he’s doing and I’m not letting him win.
All I need to do is just get back to my room, and L’Alliance rules forbid him to enter without my express permission.
That’s the one thing that kept me from crying last night. I kept myself busy memorizing all the rules of this place, knowing that I can’t afford to lower my guard against the great Hexius Mercier.
So just keep moving, Sam.
Just a few steps more.
Just one last—
Noooo!
Because the next thing I know, he’s opened the door to the room before mine, and we’re suddenly inside it, the door’s closed, and aaaah!
It’s the worst case of déjà vü ever, to find myself once again trapped between the wall and his big, hard body, my wrists locked over my head, and all my senses taken captive by the throbbing heat of his presence.
Crap, crap, crap.
And when I reluctantly lift my gaze to his—
I’m doomed, like for real.
Because I know just by looking at him that I’m not the only one who’s made it their business to familiarize themselves with all the rules of L’Alliance.
“I didn’t cheat on you, Samira.”
“You don’t have to. I already know—”
“You know nothing.”
“I know enough!”
“You don’t—”
“I know you love her still!”
“How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t love her?”
“You can say it again and again—”
His gorgeous face hardens, but I’m too lost in my pain to figure out why this matters.
“But nothing you say will matter because it’s over,” I cry out. “I will never—”
“Enough.”
His lips slam down on mine, and no, oh no.
Because it is exactly what he says.
His kiss is enough to destroy my struggles.
Nooooooo.
The moment his tongue slips inside my mouth, I’m lost in the heat of his possession, my heart breaking even as he sweeps me up in his arms, a sob spilling past my lips as he lowers me to the bed.