Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 157672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 788(@200wpm)___ 631(@250wpm)___ 526(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 788(@200wpm)___ 631(@250wpm)___ 526(@300wpm)
I treasured that. Feeling something deep inside.
Now seeing him, I notice a difference.
My soul aches.
He loves her.
Like LOVES her.
And she seems to feel the same.
Oh, Jesus, help me.
Déjà vu washes over me with the icy truth.
He pulls her into his chest like he’s done to me several times.
His hand moves up and down her back soothingly, his lips at her ear. “Hollywood, you and I—”
I can’t stand here anymore, my heart threatening to splinter.
A sound echoes from my throat, and both their heads swing my way. Her eyes grow wide as he steps back. I don’t wait for what happens next, taking off back to the bedroom. I’m almost through the doorway before I’m off my feet and caught in Talon’s hold.
“Let me down.” I kick the air, thrashing to get free.
“Calm down, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that! Don’t call me anything. Let me go. I’m leaving.”
“You’re leaving?” The door slams behind us.
“Yes! I’m leaving.”
He sets me down. “Why the fuck are you leaving?”
“You know why!” I shove him, stumbling back when he doesn’t budge.
Anger flickers in his eyes. “I wouldn’t waste my breath if I knew.”
“Oh, we wouldn’t want to waste your precious breath would we, Talon Simms?” I seethe, the image of the beautiful woman flashing in my head.
“Warning, Willow, I have no fucking idea what the hell is happening here.”
He doesn’t know? How could he not? I just walked in on him consoling his best friend’s fiancée.
A woman he noticeably loves and can’t have.
“Because I won’t be the other woman.”
“There is no other woman.”
“Liar. Do I have a fucking beacon signal to attract the biggest liars into my life?”
His gaze grows steely, anger setting on his face.
“Please tell me. Is it like a birthmark, or a tic, or something?”
“You need to calm your ass down and explain that.”
All the emotions from long ago resurface and my temper gets the best of me.
“I dated a guy that was like you. Smart, handsome, charming. He took my virginity and claimed to love me. Things got rough with us and I broke it off. Then last year, I walked into a family dinner and learned he was in love with my sister and now they’re getting married. We had our relationship problems, but the asshole didn’t have the decency to break things off before he started fucking her. For-fucking ever, I beat myself up over being so blind. Then little things began to make sense, and the signs were there all along.”
Through my rampage, his face has morphed into something much worse than rage.
Pity…
But now that the gates have opened, they aren’t closing.
“Just like five minutes ago, I saw clearly that you love that woman. She may marry someone else, but she’s in your heart.”
When I’m done, my chest heaves and hot tears spill down my cheeks.
He stares at me, his expression now unreadable. In a flash, his shirt is gone and all the breath leaves my body.
Tan skin with ink scrolling in patterns and numbers all the way to his ribcage. Every bit of him is firm, cut, and rippling muscle. It’s like staring at a priceless sculpture.
Flawless.
My eyes scan along his collarbone, shoulders, chest, and the fading marks. Circular scars the size of dimes stain his picturesque body.
The day in the clinic comes back to me.
More tears pour down my face. “Talon?” My voice cracks at the thought of what happened.
“Last December, I intercepted a man trying to kidnap Rowan. In a moment of distraction, he got the upper hand and I had no choice but to surrender. Turns out he wanted information on a case we were working. She was in the sights of a sociopath who thought he could use her for leverage.”
“Oh my God. They tortured you.”
“They thought they had the bigger balls. All I had to do was stall.”
“Stall? You let them hurt you?”
“Didn’t have much choice when they strung me up to a beam and Rowan was in the other room. I was her only protection until my guys showed up.”
He protected her.
“What happened?”
“Punctured lung, dislocated shoulder, broken arm, cuts and bruises. And the burns.”
“That’s how you injured your shoulder?”
“Yeah. Ford came next.”
“Then what?”
“Our guys showed up and got all the fun.”
By fun, I’m assuming he’s not referring to arrests and paperwork.
“Are they all dead?”
His jaw ticks and he gives a short chin jerk.
“Before Ford, Rowan was hooked up with a narcissistic asshole who cheated and beat her. He didn’t take their break-up well and kidnapped her to get her money.”
“She’s been kidnapped twice?”
“You’re right about one thing. I do love her.” He disregards my question. “I love her for many reasons. She’s one of the finest women I know, and most of all because she makes my brother happy. That’s where it ends.”
“And that’s why you didn’t tell me. You don’t think I can handle it? After all we’ve been through?”