Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 200(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 200(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Baby.
"Get off me," I growl, visceral panic surging through me as soon as he calls me that. I push against his chest, fight or flight kicking in, my stomach churning the same way it always does whenever anyone calls me that. The fact that he's the one who just did it makes it even worse.
I was actually going to…
Another wave of panic courses through me, threatening to close my throat.
There's no way I'm giving him whatever it is that he's after here. No way in hell. I don't care how much he pretends this is something else, it's not.
I don't even know him!
He definitely doesn't know me or anything about me.
Except…he steps back, lifting his hands in the air like he isn't a threat, as if he senses the panic and doesn't want to scare me. But it's all bullshit. Briggs Ward might just be the biggest threat I've ever met.
I push past him, my heart thundering so loud, it's all I hear.
Until he speaks again.
"When you're ready for me, I'll be waiting."
"That'll never happen," I swear. "Never, ever."
"Yeah, it will." His soft, confident laugh chases me from the alcove.
I'm not entirely surprised to find him waiting for me when I step into the lobby of my hotel early the next morning. I come to a stop in the elevator, just staring at him for a long moment.
He's leaning up against a column, his t-shirt stretched over the broad wall of his chest, his eyes locked on his phone. He's far too gorgeous, especially at six in the morning.
Panic receded as soon as he was out of sight last night, but I still tossed and turned all night, ill at ease and turned on at the same time. I even fucking dreamed about him.
This is a problem.
He rejected me last night because…why?
I don't know. He's playing some game I'm not interested in playing with him. I could write off a wedding hookup. People do it all the time, right? They don't have to mean anything. But the stakes of whatever game he's playing feel a lot bigger, and that's not nearly the same as a one-time wedding hookup.
I made the mistake of trusting a guy like him once. Six years later, I'm still not sure I'm entirely healed from the scars he carved into me in front of all his teammates and dozens of my classmates. I won't do it again.
The elevator doors try to close on me.
I sigh, hauling my bag out into the lobby. Aside from Briggs and the desk attendant, the giant lobby is deserted, thank God. I do not need an audience for whatever is about to transpire.
I take a moment to compose myself before stomping toward him.
He waits until I'm standing a foot away to look up from his phone. It's not because he doesn't know I'm there. Oh no. I think he knew the moment I arrived in the elevator. But this is part of his game—making me come to him, making me wait for him. He probably gets off on it.
"Who do I have to kill for doxxing me?"
"Doxxing you?" His lips curve into a panty-melting smirk. "I wasn't aware that's what this was."
"Someone gave you my private info without my consent so you could harass me," I sniff. "What would you call it?"
"Protecting what matters."
How he manages to say that with a straight face, I'll never know, but I just snort, shaking my head. "Does this charming stalker routine usually work for you, Briggs? Because, I gotta say, I'm not into it."
"You think I'm charming?"
I stare at him in disbelief before an abrupt laugh spills out. "That's what you got from what I just said?"
"It was the important part," he says with a shrug. "The rest is irrelevant."
"You being a stalker is irrelevant?" My brows climb toward my hairline. "In no world is that the irrelevant part of that statement, Briggs."
"I'm not stalking you. Sophie asked me to make sure you made it to the airport safely."
So…I'm killing the bride the day after her wedding. Awesome.
"Is this all of your stuff?" he asks, taking my bag before I can even attempt to stop him. "You need anything else before we go?"
"I am not going to the airport with you."
"Why not?"
I gape at him, not sure if he actually hears himself or not. "Are you serious right now?"
"Yes." He eyes me levelly. "You need a ride. I can get you there faster than an Uber."
It's way too early in the morning for this…for him.
"You know what?" I throw up my hands. "Fine. But we aren't talking, Briggs. Not a word."
"Not even one?"
I stomp toward the doors when his lips twitch, amusement twinkling in his eyes.
Unsurprisingly, his truck is pulled up right outside. He somehow manages to beat me to it, pulling the passenger door open for me with a ridiculous flourish. I just shake my head and sigh before climbing in, prepared for the longest ride in history.