Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“I agree with you,” I said. “And I wish it didn’t, but sometimes, it does.”
His eyes searched my face. “You deserve better.”
For so long, I’d been desperately grateful for the opportunities I’d always had. Most people never got a chance to work for their father’s company. Most people didn’t have the privileges I had. I’d always felt like I was the lucky one because I was able to work at Lux Marketing, and had always hoped to reach the highest levels of the company and hopefully make it my own, one day.
But for Storm to say I deserved better… the thought had never even crossed my mind.
Lux Marketing had just always been my whole world, my whole career. No one had ever questioned anything about that.
I cleared my throat. “I agree. The company deserves better than a guy like Cutmore still being at the top.”
Storm gave me a resolute look. “And you deserve better than ever being made to feel like you’re a failure,” he said softly.
I furrowed my brow. “Since when do you care about anything like that?”
“What do you mean?”
I bit my lip, looking down at him. “Why do you give a damn what happens at my job?”
“Because I like you,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, is that right?” I teased. “You like me one moment then want to mess with my head the next?”
He leaned up from the pillow, giving me another little kiss before he squeezed me one last time, then hopped out of bed.
“Nah,” he said, walking across the room, still naked and looking so fucking good in the slanted morning light. He turned back to me, his eyes glinting, giving me a dimpled smile. “I decided I just like you. Simple as that.”
I sat there motionless for a second, watching as he waltzed into my bathroom, and started to wash up. His phone sounded out a jingly little ringtone from the bedside table, and he came out again still naked and picked up the call.
“Yep,” he answered. “Hey, Marcus. I’ll be in by eight. Hope your quads are ready because it’s leg day, motherfucker.”
He laughed a bit as he chatted with one of his teammates, and I got up and got ready for work, putting on one of my best suits for the day ahead.
A few minutes later we were both by the front door, ready to leave. He leaned against the doorframe, looking perfectly at home in my house. Just a short while ago, I wouldn’t have been able to imagine a moment like this. The beautiful morning light reflecting onto his face, and the slow, kind smile he gave me.
“What did you mean by that?” I asked him as I walked over to his side. “That you decided you like me?”
He ran a hand along my arm.
“What do you think?” he said playfully. “You’re the one who’s the genius here.”
“You think I’m a pompous prick who drives excessive cars and wears clothes that are too fancy,” I said, “but you like me?”
“Absolutely,” Storm said. “And you’re nothing like anyone I’ve ever been with before, or anyone I’ve ever met before, really. You represent everything I should hate.”
“Exactly.”
“And I’m pretty sure that’s why I like you so much,” he said, a kindness in his eyes that almost broke my heart. “You’re so yourself. No apologies. Just like me. We’re exactly who we are.”
I nodded, watching him. “That’s true.”
Why was it so hard for me to believe that he could like me for me? So many of the people in my past really had just seen me as a list of accomplishments and labels: school, money, career, excellence.
But Storm had hated all of those things, and still been able to see the real me through all of that. To be able to stand here and tell me he liked me, after everything?
He cupped the sides of my face, kissed me again, and pulled away to step through the front doorway. I could see the snow behind him, and it looked like something out of my dreams.
A handsome man kissing me goodbye on a chilly fall morning.
A man who really liked me back, too.
“You don’t have to like me back,” he said as he took a step outside into the snow. “But you should know what you’re worth. With me, or your boss, or anyone else. Fucking rock it today, Emmmet. No fear.”
He pumped his fist in the air as he took off in a jog toward his house and hopped into his Bronco.
It was like a tornado had just rolled through my house. Through my heart.
I grabbed my phone and dialed Landry, barely thinking it over first.
“Emmett,” Landry answered.
I walked out into the snow, my shoes making a satisfying crunch. I opened the garage from outside and walked to the side of the Porsche.