Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
The air shifts around us, and it’s like the world drops away. There is just me and this man in this room, in this world, on top of that dark ocean. Something is happening between us and it is wild, warm and wonderful in a way I have never known, in a way I can’t stop it from happening, and I don’t want to stop it. I don’t want everything else in my life to destroy this or him. I want to know this man. “Drop the blanket, Abbie,” he urges softly, using that name again, his voice warming.
I drop the blanket and his gaze rakes over my naked breasts, a hungry look on his face that has me clenching my thighs together. “You’re definitely trying to undo me,” he declares, his gaze lifting to mine, his voice all rough. “I’m going to leave the pizza at the door if you don’t put this on now.” He slides the T-shirt over my head and I poke my arms through the holes.
“You look like you’re ready for my favorite pizza now.”
“Considering I can really put down some pizza, you might have under-ordered,” I joke.
He moves to the coffee table and sits down in front of me. “Is that right?”
“It is. Pizza is my ultimate sin.”
“I’ll fix that soon, I promise.” His hands come down on my knees. “I have a list of sins you can commit that don’t include pizza, but they do include me. We’ll start working our way down it.”
I’m warm. I’m so very warm all over but I’m also worried. “You may not want to go down that list with me. I told you, Gabe. I’m trouble.”
“Because of Jean Claude.”
“Because of Jean Claude and my ex.”
“Who’s your ex?”
“Kenneth Lincoln. My ex is Kenneth Lincoln.”
He arches a brow. “As in the billionaire, Kenneth Lincoln of Lincoln Gas and Oil?”
“Yes. That’s him. And all of his money with that of Jean Claude’s can destroy. It can destroy you. It can destroy your brother.”
“And yet you wanted to hire my brother?”
“I didn’t know you then. I do now. And now that I do, I just need a recommendation. Someone who wants to fight Jean Claude or Kenneth or both, and win just to say they did it. Just for the credibility winning gives them. I need someone that isn’t you or your brother. And then I need to walk away after tonight.”
He studies me, his stare probing. “Why would you walk away if we weren’t representing you?”
“Because any man that gets close to me that has the ability to hurt Kenneth or Jean Claude will be a target. I’m not going to make you a target. I’m not going to be on the short list of females you hate.” I pull the T-shirt off. “So maybe we should just forget the pizza because I can’t stay long. I have to leave.”
Chapter ten
Gabe
This woman rocks my world. She’s not leaving. “You’re not leaving, but yes, we are fucking again, but after we eat the pizza we just ordered.”
“You don’t understand,” she says, turning to face me, her damn nipples puckering under my T-shirt, and my cock refuses to ignore just how damn hot she is. It’s hard. I’m hot. This is not the time.
“I understand completely,” I say. “I deal with bad people all the time. I’ve dealt with my share of dangerous people and often. My fucking father is one of those dangerous people. So, if you expect me, or Reid for that matter, to cower, I’m not sure why you came to us in the first place.”
“I don’t expect you to cower,” she snaps back. “I expect just the opposite, but now you have a target on your chest because you’re personal with me.”
“And your ex wants to fuck around but keep you from the ten thousand fucking orgasms he denied you?”
“Yes,” she breathes out. “He wants to keep me from those orgasms. He wants to keep me from any form of happiness or pleasure.”
“Because he still wants you?” I ask, not liking that idea at all.
Her lips thin. “No. He doesn’t want me. I’m not sure I remember when he did. He wants to punish me because the one thing I walked away with in the divorce, the one thing I asked for, he now needs. And I’m not giving it to him.”
The doorbell rings and I scrub my jaw. Damn, I’m hungry, but right now, I want to know what she has that her billionaire ex wants. Especially since it’s the only thing she didn’t walk away from. I run my hands down my legs and stand up. I waste no time paying for the pizza and returning to the living room, but I don’t go for plates or drinks. I turn to her. “What does he want?”
“The property my mother’s office and non-profit animal rescue sits on. She has hundreds of animals there that would be killed elsewhere. During the divorce, I took only a hundred thousand dollars and that land, and the money went to the shelter. He’s a freaking billionaire, Gabe, but I make my own money. I don’t want his. Now, he wants what I own.”