Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
“That’s good. I only use them at night.” He studied my wicked smile and sighed, resigned to play my game. “So, how was tonight?”
“Good. I signed a new band. They’ll come in next week to finalize the paperwork. There were even two other competing companies there, and I still managed to sway them to Quinn.”
“If nothing else, the past few months have taught me not to doubt you.”
I threw my fist up, pumping the air in victory, earning a laugh from him. “So, how was your day at work?”
“Good.”
My face scrunched. “What do you even do? You know, other than stealing companies from entitled princesses before marrying them.”
“Other than that,” he said dryly. “I invest in other companies to benefit my own. Meanwhile, we have our own operations in manufacturing, shipping, and insurance. It’s a lot of balancing that.”
“That sounds very all over the place. I prefer having a single focus in music. I like being able to do more than excel at what I give my attention to. With your kind of variety, I’d be pulled in too many directions, and it would end up driving me insane to try and keep up with them all.”
“It’s exciting. Ever-changing. Nothing is ever boring, and if it is, then I look into another asset.”
“I can see that for you,” I said, nodding. “Was it your dad who started the company?”
“Kind of,” he said, finally setting the laptop on the ground and rolling to face me. “He started the manufacturing company with his dad, and they grew it from there.”
“Sounds like a lot of work.”
“It was,” he said seriously, but then smiled as if remembering something good. “But he was always around. Even while he kept growing the business, I can’t remember more than a few times that my dad wasn’t there for me. He made sure I knew that he loved his business, but he loved being with my mom and me more.”
“Something we had in common,” I agreed. “My dad made sure he was around for us, too. Mind you, he was older and had settled Quinn Music Group years before I came along, but still. I get it.”
“It’s hard at any point of owning a company. It’s a choice you have to make. It was a choice I wanted to make when I envisioned my marriage. I struggled with not being the husband I imagined I’d be when we first got married, and I had to devote so much of myself to the business after my parents passed.” He paused and took a deep breath. “For a moment, I thought Daria cheated because I hadn’t been around enough.”
“Turned out she was just an epic bitch.”
He released a bark of laughter, his head falling back, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to lick the strong cords of his throat.
So I did.
I leaned over him and dragged my tongue up his neck to his ear, biting softly, earning a deep growl rumbling from his chest.
A surprised laugh burst free when he gripped my hips and moved me on top of him, my legs on either side of his waist, and my pussy right on top of his very hard cock.
And with that simple move, his eyes turning dark with devious promises, the tension from earlier snapped right back, perfectly in place, like it always did.
CHAPTER 15
LUCIAN
They say bad things come in threes, but I didn’t let myself get into situations that led to bad things. Mostly. I attributed it to my interpretation of the belief that warning signs come in threes, and that if you ignore them, that is when bad things happen.
After the past few months with Aspen, I’d only had the one alarm that kept going off—just one. And I continued to shove it so far down, I almost didn’t hear it anymore. I ignored it so thoroughly that I missed the slow descent into a situation that left me vulnerable.
However, that morning, three warning signs flared so intensely I had no choice but to finally acknowledge the alarm I’d been avoiding. It started when I first woke, slow and deep, thrumming beneath the depths I buried it.
I peeled my eyes open to find the sun perfectly illuminating the soft, warm body pressed to mine. The perfect cupid’s bow of her full lips. The delicate arch of her high cheekbones. The shadow cast from her thick lashes.
All of it pulled me in as if a moth to a flame.
I wanted nothing more than to stay in bed with her all day. Not to dominate, spank, or fuck. I wanted to kiss her awake gently and watch the morning rays spark against the amber, gold, and bronze of her eyes. I wanted to watch them soften with a smile as they met mine. I wanted to bring her breakfast in bed. I wanted her to curl into my side as we drank coffee and watched the news. I wanted to hold her in my arms and hear every memory, learning every hidden depth of her.