Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
“I don’t. Just the sweatshirt. I’m okay with you sleeping in your boxers because we’re going to put a pillow between us.”
Zane’s eyebrow pops up. “We are?”
Nodding, I pull my lower lip in between my teeth and struggle with eye control. I can’t help it. Even if I wanted to, Zane’s attractive. Sexy. And my memories are too vivid for my own liking.
“Eyes up here,” he says, grabbing my attention.
“I’m sorry.” I cover my face in embarrassment. Any romantic entanglements I’ve had over the years have been nothing more than an inch scratched.
“It’s okay. I don’t mind.” He rubs his hand up and down his torso, clearly proud of himself, and laughs as he passes me to go to the bathroom.
“Yep, definitely pillows between us,” I mutter to myself.
I opt for the side closest to the wall, crawl in, and adjust my body pillow so it’s firmly in the middle. My eyes are on the television when Zane comes back and as much as I want to look at him, to ogle him, I don’t.
The bed dips and the covers rustle, and I’m hit by his manly scent of sandalwood and bergamot washing over me. I close my eyes and inhale, committing his cologne to memory.
“Look at me,” he says in a hushed tone. I roll onto my side to find him staring.
“Hi.”
“Thank you for letting me stay.”
“You’re welcome.” Having him here feels right.
Zane reaches for my hand. Our fingers lace together and rest on the pillow. “I’m going to work my tail off to prove to you that I’m worthy of your time. I want to earn your attention and hopefully, your love again.”
I know he will and there isn’t a doubt in my mind he’ll achieve what he sets out to do.
“Can I ask you about New York?”
Zane nods.
“I’m curious about some of the things you’ve told me about your time there, especially early on. When did you meet Caryn’s dad?”
“Do you remember in the fall of our third year of law school?”
I nod.
“I went to the job fair at Harvard. You already knew what field you wanted to specialize in and had done your internship. I was still so up in the air, so I went. It was nothing but corporate, big law stuff. Each company tried enticing you with massive salaries. They’d promise you’d make enough money to get out of debt. That sort of thing.
“So, I’m walking around, looking lost and confused, and I stop at Bamford Associates’ table. That’s where I met Mr. Bamford and Serena, although I didn’t know she was Serena until I got to New York. He told me about the company and how great the city is. I said I wasn’t interested, and that you were looking more in the Albany area so we could stay close to our families.
“He understood that family came first. It was their motto, too, apparently. I gave him my info because why not and moved along to the next table. By the end of the fair, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Then, a few days later a wine basket showed up at the apartment. The guys were thrilled because it was free booze. It was Bamford. I thought it was odd, but the guys told me it wasn’t and to enjoy the perks of being wined and dined by a top firm in New York.
“That’s all I thought it was. Then around finals, he started texting me about going to New York. I didn’t think anything of it because Bamford Associates wasn’t even on my radar, and then he started calling. Just to check in, he said. He asked if got this or that—things he’d sent over. And I said ‘yeah, of course, thanks.’ I told him about you and how we had these plans, and he told me not to worry, he’d take care of it all when I got there.
“But I never agreed. The next thing I knew, he was dangling the paid internship in my face. The salary was more than I could ever think of earning while still in school. The only issue was you wouldn’t go. I initially told him no thanks because we had a plan, and I still had a semester left of school. The day I told you about the offer, he called and doubled it. Offered to pay off my loans because he had so much faith in me, and I came highly recommended by the school. He fed me everything I wanted to hear.
“Then I got there, and I hated it. It wasn’t where I wanted to be, and I told him as much. Enter Caryn. She was there all the time. Smiling and bubbly. She offered to take me out, show me the city. Every time I tried to come home to you, something urgent needed my attention. Interns shouldn’t have any responsibility and yet I had my own office.