Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 109178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“Like hell you aren’t. After I left the third or fourth voicemail for you, Nadia, I had to take a step back. I’m not someone who has ever had to force myself on anyone, and regardless of how much I cared about you, you weren’t going to be the first.”
“What haven’t I explained to you that you still wonder about?”
“What makes you think that I still wonder about anything?”
“Because of how you’re looking at me. You used to look that same way at me so long ago, when you knew I was hiding something. Avoiding a conversation.”
“Just say it.” His body heated as a strange anger and sadness merged within him. Until now, he hadn’t slowed down enough to process how truly upset he’d been back then about her vanishing into thin air. He hadn’t sat in the feelings, stewing until they were hot and boiling. Now though, he could feel the full force of his disappointment. It repeated like hot sauce crawling up his throat from a bad burrito, and burned more than an August afternoon in Texas.
“Because I loved you, Lennox. It wasn’t just a crush, or a mere need to have sex with you. You know what it was.” Her fingers fluttered against her neck. “…I didn’t think I was good enough to have somebody like you. Didn’t matter how pretty people said I was. Or how smart. Or how funny. You were on another level. I know now that isn’t true, but I had to work on me first. I wasn’t fit to be with anyone, especially not a person with your sense of self, and your level of esteem. You’re a lot… in a good way.”
He leaned forward, clasped his hands, and nodded in understanding. He got it now. It was sinking in.
“I was broken, Lennox. Broken people look for others to put them together again. Trauma bondin’. I wanted to pretend with you, ya know? Act like I could handle the pressure I was under, but a part of me wanted you to glue me back together after I fell off my mental wall. Humpty Dumpty. That never works. Nobody can fix a broken soul but that person and God.”
“True.”
“You know what?” she said with a smile.
“What?”
“I was so busy back then dumping all of my problems on you, that I rarely asked about how you were doing. Your own life and feelings. That was selfish when I think back on it,” she stated contemplatively. “I’m sorry about that.”
“I preferred it that way.” With a sigh, he flopped back against the couch and closed his eyes for a brief spell.
“You know what blew my mind about you? When I found out that you came from a rich family. I was pissed you didn’t tell me. I couldn’t believe you were working in a greasy spoon,” she prodded, her gaze searching his. “Lennox Wilde, from the Wilde family clan. I didn’t know nothin’ about that until Jalil told me.”
Jalil was a bus boy who’d put two and two together, much to Lennox’s disappointment.
“We can’t help the family we’re born into.”
Her gaze turned inquisitive. “You told me not all money is good money, but at the time that didn’t make sense to me.” She started fidgeting with one of her long pink nails. “Now it does.”
“It sunk in, huh?”
“Yeah… so now that we’re grown ’nd sexy, I want to ask why you got a minimum wage job when your parents had all that money? You wouldn’t answer me directly back then, but I want an answer now.”
He mulled on that for a second, then went with, “I want you.”
“Yeah, you said that, Len, but that doesn’t answer my question.”
“Just listen. It’s part of the reason why I’m going to answer you. You’ve always been the deep end of the pool to me. I want to damn near drown. I want the heat, the intensity, the heart and soul you possess. My wanting a chance with you is what will make me talk about this.”
“So you don’t talk about your family?”
“Sometimes, but not like this. I don’t talk about my family’s business.”
“Respect.” She nodded and reached for her drink.
“I don’t discuss it with my friends, and not much with women I’ve been with in the past, either.”
“Are you afraid of gold diggers?”
“Nope. If a woman is mine, she won’t have to worry about being provided for. We’ll work together to reach our goals, but she’ll never struggle or have to be the main breadwinner. I’m not broke, and I’m working my way to owning that fitness center, but I do expect some things in return. Loyalty, love, affection, devotion. Anyway, to answer your question—long story short,” he ran his hand along his leg, trying to find the right words, “My grandfather runs a large enterprise, a family business. Us Wildes are everywhere in Texas. Houston is still the main hub, if you will. Some are seen, some are not. People know us though, especially in this day and age.”