Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 37781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Josh.
Even though Bowdie’s stopped, Josh lays both hands flat on the hood as if he’s somehow holding it back, acting like a complete dick, but that’s Josh in a nutshell. His eyes lock onto mine and then follow the line of Bowdie’s hand to the man driving the car he’s just stepped out in front of. Seeing his beady gray eyes narrow as a malicious grin forms on his face, I know in a split second, Josh will use this against me—seeing me about to go into a hotel with Lucy’s dad alone. Bowdie’s hand gripping my chest right now isn’t how I want Lucy or anyone else to find out about the two of us, but Bowdie’s reaction shocks me the most until I realize Bowdie doesn’t know Josh from anywhere. Although there’s no real harm done, I feel my chest tighten for all the wrong reasons when Bowdie slams the car into park and leaps from the driver’s seat, gripping Josh by the collar and lifting him off the ground.
Josh isn’t a little guy, but this is what I mean when I say Bowdie is big. I’ve never seen him so wound up either, and I figure it must be because Josh touched his car or something—some taboo guy thing the fool’s just gone and done.
“You wanna keep your eyes where you’re going, you hear me?” Bowdie growls, pulling Josh closer so his nose is almost touching.
Josh looks like a guy who may have actually just shit himself, but I don’t feel like rushing to interfere when Bowdie growls words for all the world to hear that grab me by the heart as much as he’s got Josh by the throat.
“You wanna look at her? Even think about looking at her? You’ve got nerve, boy. I oughta—” Bowdie snarls, making me clasp my hands over my chest, not because I’m worried about him or what he might do to Josh. I’m not even bothered too much when a security guard almost half as big as Bowdie appears, calling for some backup on a two-way radio.
It’s the most heroic, psychotic, and crazy thing anyone’s ever said or done for me. Because of me. I don’t know why, but I almost tear up with emotion. If Bowdie can turn into a maniac just because he even thought someone was looking at me? Well, maybe he has stronger feelings for me than just wanting to use me as some plaything.
However, my swoon-worthy moment quickly turns to something else once I remember who Bowdie’s got in his grip—Josh. The smile that plays on the guy’s mouth once it pegs he’s avoiding a beating thanks to security showing up is enough to make me wanna wipe it off for him myself. Bowdie exercises restraint before the security guards all caution him. Josh’s eyes shift to mine, letting me know with his smug grin that he knows my little secret now. He’s met Lucy’s dad for the first time, but it’s played out in Josh’s favor because now he has something over both of us—if we still wanna be careful about being found out, that is.
Looking at Bowdie, standing so tall and tense and so damn strong, I don’t think he cares less who knows about us right now because he wants what I want. He wants the two of us someplace where we can be alone. Before we even check in, it’s obvious we won’t be doing it in a five-star luxury hotel once a team of security guards spills out of the foyer.
Bowdie reluctantly lets Josh slip from his iron grip as we share a frustrated look. Josh, instantly a victim, which he starts hamming up, rubs his neck and asks security to call the police. The word “lawyer” is something else I hear from him before Bowdie’s back in the car growling to himself before shooting me an apologetic look.
“I think we might go somewhere else. I hear the room service here isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” he mumbles, trying to make light of it all as he puts his car back into gear, my hands still pressed over my heart.
Somehow we both know this is gonna be way harder to keep to ourselves than either of us first thought and now that Josh has seen us together? It’s only a matter of time before the truth is out.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Bowdie
I’ve never been so mad. Not since… not since Cathy died.
This is different in so many ways. I was mad as hell for years when Cathy died, but never once, not even when she was alive, did the thought of another guy looking at her set me off like this. With Beth, I feel different. Beth does something that makes me whole inside in a way that turns me hyperprotective of anything or anyone who even looks like they’re hinting at interfering with what I know we have between us.