Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I called Jackson’s name, but there was no response. I frowned, but when I turned over in the big bed, my brows shot up. There, on the bedside table, was a dozen white roses and a simple, handwritten note.
Morning, angel. I’m getting us coffee — it appears I’m out.
Love,
J
I read the note twice, and a third time, and then a fourth, before I finally just concentrated on that last part.
Love.
I closed my eyes, hugging the note to my chest and feeling the feeling I’d never really experienced before blaze through me. Because I loved this man — totally and completely. I’d gone from lusting over him, and moaning into my pillow at night as he became the subject of filthy fantasies, to sharing his bed, and our hearts. I’d given him my body, yes, but he’d given me his heart in return.
And I was never going to let go of it.
Still grinning like a complete idiot, I slipped from his bed and padded across the bedroom floor. I pulled a big dress shirt of his from the walk-in closet, half-buttoning it as I poked my way through his enormous, gorgeous penthouse.
In the kitchen, I made myself tea. I grinned, realizing that there was still so many things about each other we didn’t know yet — like, for instance, that I preferred tea to coffee. I giggled to myself, thinking of how sweet it was that he’d gone out for coffee without even knowing that.
When the water was poured, I took a steamy sip, letting the caffeine slowly seep into me as I walked across his living room to the big balcony through the sliding glass doors. I stepped out, taking a deep breath of the morning city air as my gaze dragged across the rooftops of New York.
A car horn pulled my attention down, and when I saw him down there on the sidewalk so many stories below, my heart started to beat faster, and the smile started to creep across my face.
…Before suddenly, like it’d taken a blow from a knife, it started to sink, and ache.
The woman had dark, almost black hair, pulled back tightly. She wore a smart, white blouse, a trim pencil skirt, and I honestly didn’t care what else, because it wasn’t her fucking hair, or her wardrobe I was looking at.
…It was the fact that she was holding hands with Jackson.
The green, envious rage blazed inside of me — jealousy like I never knew I could even experience exploding though my body. I forced myself to take deep breaths, and tried to make myself think of everything it could be that I was seeing. Maybe she was a friend, or another doctor, or even a—”
The woman wrapped her arms around Jackson, pulled herself into him, and right before my eyes, kissed his cheek.
…And he hugged her right back.
The green rage turned into something worse, and slowly, I could feel something inside my chest break. And suddenly, I knew I’d been an idiot for ever thinking it’d been real. When I thought about it, it was so obvious — the young, naive girl with the crush, and the gorgeous, perfect doctor, ready to swoop in. Of course there was another — or many other girls.
It’d all been a pretty little lie, and I’d swallowed the whole thing.
Fighting back tears, I turned and fled into his penthouse to grab my clothes and make myself disappear.
Chapter Eleven
Jackson
The grin on my face was new, but I liked it. Shit, I’d gotten pretty damn used to not smiling, but then Ada had stepped into my world, and everything had changed. I knew I was going to be smiling a whole lot more now — hell, all the time now, and it was all due to her.
…All due to finding the love of my life.
I could feel my heart hammering in my chest as the elevator rose back to my penthouse, and to my sleeping angel. This was it. No more hesitations in life, no more missteps, no more not living the life I wanted to live. I’d found the only girl that ever really mattered to me, and now, I was never going to let her—
“Asshole!”
The smile dropped from my face as something small and fierce lunged at me the second the elevator doors opened. Small fists pummeled at my chest, and one even got close to my face before I grabbed a thin wrist and shoved the little demon back.
“You asshole!”
I blinked, gripping Ada tight as I stared down into her furious, tear-streaked face.
“Jesus, angel, what’s—”
“Oh, don’t you angel me!” she snapped, yanking herself away from me and stepping away. I could feel a piece of me shattering — a knife twisting inside.
“Ada,” I growled, moving towards her. “What exactly is going on?”
“You tell me!” she barked, her arms crossing over her chest. She was wearing her clothes from yesterday — not naked and still warming my bed as I’d imagined on my way up. That, and she was looking at me with fury and rage on her face like I’d never even imagined she was capable of.