Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“I forgot,” I say with a shrug.
“Right,” he says. “I’ll be happy to remind you tonight.”
“Oh?” I ask, my heartbeat racing. “Um. What might that entail?”
Not blinking, his eyes blaze into mine. “Six with the cane should do it.”
I look down, chastened. Jesus. A cane? Of course, I’ve never had it before, but he’s the one in charge and I agreed to it.
“Well. Okay,” I say. “I’m sorry. But you know it’s going to take time getting used to this, right?” I hazard a glance back up at him, and see his gaze begin to soften. “I’ve never had a driver before.”
Sighing, he takes my hand in his. “Yeah, Cora,” he says. “I’m sorry. I overreacted. I didn’t see you where we were supposed to meet, and I thought the worst. I tried calling you, but it went to voicemail. You must’ve been in a dead zone or something.”
“It didn’t even ring,” I tell him, and even though I feel his reproval, my heart does a little somersault.
He cares.
God, he cares.
And literally no one ever has before.
Hell, I love that.
“So… does your overreaction mean no, um, cane?” I ask. Oh my God I don’t even like saying the word.
I may be imagining it, but his eyes twinkle a bit even as he frowns at me. And then his voice softens, which does unpredictable things to my body. “I don’t think so.”
I feel like I’m going to cry when he says in a soft voice, “I just don’t want to see you hurt, Cora. Now give me a kiss and make me forget I need to cane you later.”
I actually smile when he leans in to greet me with a kiss.
The car cruises to a stop. “So… you know I need to run upstairs and check on them, right?”
“I do,” he says. “Thirty minutes enough time?”
“Yes,” I tell him.
“Just so we’re clear, I’d prefer to be going up with you,” he says with a scowl that I swear is almost a pout, “but I know you want a little privacy. But you keep your phone in your hand while you walk and if I text, you answer immediately. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
He’s already pulling out his phone and opening his email when I open the door. I want to be quick about it.
I exit the car and head toward the entrance to my building.
“Cora. There you are.”
I inwardly groan. Is this “bump into Cora on the street” day?
“Yes?”
It’s my landlord at the entryway to the building, holding a cigarette between her dry, cracked lips and peering at me through dirty glasses. “Rent, or street? This is getting old.”
I brush past her. “I’ll have a check in your mailbox within the hour.”
“That’s what they all say,” she says, reaching for my arm, her nails biting into me. I try to tug away, but she’s got a firm grip.
“Let me go,” I tell her. I could pull away, but this is complicated. If I hurt my landlord… “I promise—”
“Is there a problem here?” We both freeze.
I almost forgot how tall Liam is until he’s towering over the tiny woman who cowers in his wake. She lets me go like I’m on fire and stares up at him with wide-eyes and her mouth parted in a perfect “O.” Though he’s shrugged out of his suit coat and removed his tie, he looks every bit the part of someone who so does not belong standing outside an apartment building like mine.
And he’s with me.
I barely refrain from sticking my tongue out at her like a child, but I’m victorious. He got out of the car to defend me, and I’ve never had someone stand up for me like this.
I like it.
“No, there’s no problem,” she says, her eyes going from me to him and back again, then roving the expensive cut of his suit. “She your girlfriend?”
“It’s none of your business who he is,” I snap, saving him from having to answer, but her shrewd little eyes take in the new phone in my hand and the nice clothes that I’m wearing.
“Isn’t it?” she asks.
“You said there was no problem,” Liam reminds her, giving me a gentle push to the door. “We need to go.”
“You know,” I say, keeping my gaze fixed on her. “Why don’t you come up with me after all?’
It surprises me how much I like watching his eyes light up like that, like I’ve just granted him something that makes him happy, but as soon as he starts to come with me, I regret my momentary lack of discretion.
I don’t want him here. How will I explain his presence to Bailey and Ben?
He’s too good for a place like this.
But as we make our way in the apartment building, he’s talking about the landlord and holding my elbow, and I suddenly don’t care about our threadbare couch but wonder what Ben and Bailey will think. Hell, I need them to meet him, though. I’m his for the next two months.