Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Across from her, Dex had fallen asleep and she envied his relaxed state. All she could think about was how stupid she’d been, ignoring her gut in favor of being stubborn and insisting everything in her life was fine. That mediocre was good enough. That a business plan would lead to a solid, happy marriage.
She plucked her AirPods out of her bag along with her cell, turned to airplane mode so she could continue to shield herself from messages, and settled the white buds in her ears. She set the music to a quality breakup list, mostly courtesy of Taylor Swift, and let herself wallow.
A little while later, movement distracted her. From the corner of her eye, Dex raised his arms over his head, and she realized her companion was awake. She silently took in his full-body stretch, aware of the pull and flex of his muscles beneath the long-sleeve Thunder shirt he’d thrown on along with a faded pair of jeans that hugged his thighs and tight ass. It was all she could do not to let out a girly sigh.
Of course, she reminded herself she’d been on the verge of marrying one man just a few hours ago, she had no right to ogle another guy. No matter how sexy he might be. She flushed with embarrassment and glanced down at the music screen on her phone.
“You can’t avoid discussing it forever, you know,” Dex said, leaning forward so they could talk.
“I can try.” She rubbed her finger over her bottom lip, aware he had a point. “I don’t know how to tell my family that they were right. The man I was going to marry, the same man they had a bad feeling about, was using me for my money. That I put all the capital into the business because when I was young and graduating business school, Jeremy talked a good game about how we would conquer the PR world together.”
His eyes flashed angry sparks she’d like to think was on her behalf. “You wouldn’t be the first person to get duped in a relationship,” he said.
“What about the fact that I almost married him without a prenup?”
He’d just lifted a bottle of water to his lips and choked on the sip he’d swallowed.
She slid her gaze from his. “Yep, see? That’s why I don’t want Ian to know. And before you ask what I was thinking, I’ll tell you.” She twisted her hands together in her lap. “Jeremy and I met in business school and at the time, all I could think about was having some freedom from my family.”
“Sounds like most people in college or grad school.”
“Except I was escaping. College was fine, but I went in Florida and my family was close by. I chose grad school in New York and it was a major move. One I really needed.”
Leaning back, he crossed one leg over his knee and remained silent, letting her talk and listening, which she appreciated.
“I’m not sure if you know this, but Sienna, my half-sister, had leukemia as a child and needed a bone marrow transplant. My father needed us, his legitimate children…” As always, she emphasized the word with quotation marks with her fingers. “…to be tested, and that’s how we found out about my father’s other family. Avery turned out to be the match.”
His eyes opened wide. “I knew Ian had a lot of siblings, but I had no idea about the second family or your sister’s illness.” His expression softened. “That couldn’t have been easy,” he said in a gruff voice. “Any of it.”
“It wasn’t.” And though it had taken years, all the kids ended up close and Samantha was grateful to have so many brothers and sisters. But it came at a cost. “The illness, almost losing Sienna, it made Ian overprotective of all his sisters, and as my other brothers grew up, they were similarly smothering.”
Dex tipped his head to one side, studying her. “I only have one sister but three brothers, and we’ve all done our best to smother her, too,” he said wryly. “Point is, I understand.”
“Thank you for that.” There weren’t many people who would get why she’d made such rash decisions, then doubled down on them.
“So what happened? You met—”
“Jeremy. I met Jeremy and he was a smooth talker and smart. Straight A’s and his ideas were intriguing. Soon we were planning to open a PR firm together when we graduated. But he was smooth, as in slick.” She curled her fingers into fists. “And I fell for it. Hard. But the business took off, so I thought I’d done the right thing and if he hadn’t turned out to be a cheating ass who wanted my money, that would be true.”
He pressed his palms against his temples. “I can see why you’re worried about Ian’s response.”