Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
She pressed accept. “Hey!”
“Hi, Chloe. How are you?” Jordan asked.
Flopping back down onto the mattress, Chloe left her feet hanging off the side so as not to put her boots on the bedspread. “I’m feeling less hungover, so that’s an improvement.”
Jordan chuckled. “Glad to hear it. Your brother came home really pissed off, and considering I pushed him to let you stay and party last night, I’ve been steering clear.”
Chloe winced. “As if he has a say in what I do? When is he going to start treating me like an adult?” she asked, frustrated. “Never mind, that’s a rhetorical question. But I am sorry if you’re taking the brunt of my decisions.”
“Seriously? When can’t I handle your brother? It’s fine. He’s just pissed you’re with Beck. Their history is … complicated,” Jordan said.
Chloe glanced at her French manicure and thought about what she knew about Linc and Beck’s falling-out back in college. “I remember meeting him when we went up for parents’ weekend, freshman year. They were best friends, but then I never heard about him again until I went into business with Linc and Beck was both his competitor and enemy number one.”
“Mmm.” Jordan let out the sound.
“I’ll take that to mean you can’t say more. I respect that. I guess I’ll just ask if I need to be worried about Beck? He’s giving me a place to find peace for a little while, and I need that.” Chloe would never ask Jordan to betray Linc’s trust, but she did need to know if the man who’d stepped in was using her in any way as Linc had insinuated.
“No. I don’t believe you need to be concerned,” Jordan said. “I don’t know Beck, but when Linc came home and told me where you were, I did some digging and asking around with people in the business. Beck seems to be a decent guy. Intensely competitive but nothing that stands out as an issue. Beck and Linc’s problem is a personal one.”
Chloe closed her eyes and expelled a relieved breath. “Thank you.”
“That said, I wouldn’t let my guard down completely. It was an ugly situation between them, and no one really knows how he’ll react. And that’s all I can really say on the subject.”
Curiouser and curiouser, Chloe thought before turning her attention back to her brother and his soon-to-be wife. “I’m glad Linc has you, Jordan. And I’m glad you two realized taking that next step into a real relationship means what you share will grow deeper.”
“Thanks, Chlo. You take care, okay? And if you ever change your mind, you’re more than welcome to stay with us,” Jordan reminded her before they said their goodbyes.
Then, Chloe pulled out her laptop she’d packed to take with her and began to do some online shopping. She also made calls to a couple of personal stylists she knew in order to fill in her wardrobe while she was staying with Beck.
* * *
Beck withdrew to his bedroom, leaving Chloe alone in her new accommodations across the hall. For a man who kept his emotions locked up tight, Chloe brought out the oddest feelings, and he wasn’t talking about his attraction to her, either. Her vulnerability reminded him of his sister. Whitney had had a bright smile, a big laugh, and she’d just begun to see who she might become as a woman when cancer had hit, but she’d also been a fighter. And she hadn’t gone down easily.
He walked to his bedside drawer, opened it, and pulled out a piece of paper he’d had laminated so nothing would ever destroy his tangible memory of her. The words Bucket List were handwritten across the top of the page. A list of things Whitney wanted to do once she’d kicked cancer’s ass. And when it became clear that wouldn’t happen, a list she made Beck promise he’d complete for her. So one of them would fully live. He hadn’t been Whitney’s twin, but they’d been close nonetheless.
And he’d completed most of them. A tandem jump at Skydive Arizona, in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, which taught him extreme sports were not his thing, a hot air balloon ride in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the ballooning capital of the world, which had been phenomenal, and surfing lessons in Kauai, Hawaii. He’d enjoyed that experience but decided he’d prefer to be on a yacht instead of in the water. There were more things on the list he’d accomplished, and at each, he’d felt like his sister was with him, sharing the moments.
Only two remained. Seeing the northern lights and getting married. Of those, checking out the aurora borealis would happen. He’d been debating between a trip to Alaska and Norway, depending on how much time he wanted to be away. But the last item on her list would remain undone. Getting married was not in Beck’s future. After Whitney had died, he refused to let anyone close enough for him to feel that kind of shattering loss again.