The Promise Read online J.L. Beck (North Woods University #5)

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, New Adult, Romance Tags Authors: Series: North Woods University Series by J.L. Beck
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Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
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Just when I’m about to scream on top of my lungs, the hand disappears, and the man is shoved away from me. Out of nowhere, a second man appears next to me.

“I don’t think she wants to go with you, asshole,” my savior growls. The creep stumbles backward but recovers quickly. I’m positive a fight is going to break out, but to my surprise, my attacker takes one look at the man beside me and shakes his head. With his tail tucked between his legs, he walks away, not taking another glance at me.

I turn to the man who saved me. As I take him in more closely, I realize why the other man backed off so easily. This man is nearly twice my size and probably twice my age as well. He is tall, over six feet for sure. His body is toned and muscular. His chest puffed out, and his arms thicker than my thighs.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” His voice is gentle and kind, the complete opposite of what he looks like. I decide then that he’s an enigma.

Almost as if in a trance, I keep looking at him, studying his green eyes like they hold all the answers.

“Jude,” I tell him. “My name is Jude.”

LEX

Jude. Her name rolls off my tongue with a smoothness I didn’t expect. Her blue eyes are so big and wide, similar to that of a frightened kitten. Her hair is long and blonde but with a touch of white mixed in. It appears soft, and I’m tempted to reach out and touch it, but God knows that would be fucking weird. I drink in her tiny frame. She’s young, probably too young to be in a bar. She is also a whole head shorter than me, and lean, frail.

She looks nothing like the women I’ve seen before, and that instantly has me intrigued by her. She’s wearing a very long denim skirt that goes down to her ankles with a white turtleneck looking shirt. I can hardly make out the curve of her hips through the material and especially not in the shit lighting. Her face, though, I can see perfectly clear. She is angelic with high cheekbones, and a heart-shaped face. Her lips are a soft pink, and full, so full.

“Tha-thank you,” she murmurs as she peers up at me through her thick lashes. She’s watching me like she thinks I might do something to her. Innocent, naive, and fragile like a hundred-year-old glass. Those are the words that come to mind when I look at her.

I’m a better man than that, my dad raised me never to lay a hand on a woman, and my time in the Marines taught me that if you ever see someone in distress, you offer them a helping hand. And this girl was definitely in distress. That fucker wasn’t taking no for an answer, and I wasn’t going to stand there while a drunken creep manhandled her, and God knows, what else he had planned for her.

“My name is Alexander, but everyone calls me Lex,” I say like we’re two kindergarten students sharing first names.

“Lex.” Her eyes light up, and her gaze roams over my frame as if she’s assessing me.

Looking at her, I wonder if she’s homeless or running. She is without a blemish or smudge of dirt, I presume that doesn’t mean anything though. She can’t possibly be a student? My head starts to hurt as I think about it. I decide the best thing to do is ask her some questions and see what she says.

“Do you want a ride home?” I ask, hoping maybe that’ll answer at least one of my questions.

She shakes her head. “No, can you take me to your home?”

My home? I almost choke on my own spit. Maybe I didn’t hear her right. Why does she want to come home with me? I’m certainly not any less scary than the guy who was just after her. I’m huge, muscled, and flawed. Much older than her. Though I’m a lot less leering and creepy than the other guy. This strange need to protect her overtakes me. I could see the panic rising up in her when that asshole refused to let go of her. It’s why I stepped in, also because, like I said, I wasn’t going to stand by and watch the fucker hurt her.

“Uh, sure,” I tell her, assuming she has no home if she would much rather come back to my place with me. Maybe she needs a warm meal and a place to crash? I’ve been there before, and I’ve got the means to offer her help. It’s a strange situation, but I’m not going to send her out on her ass.

Wrapping her slender arms around her middle, all I can see is how fragile she is, her eyes darting around the room. She waits for me to make my move while I stand there, staring at her. Fuck. I’ve got to get out of my head.


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