Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Until I also slipped on the ice…
Straight into the arms of warm marble.
That was the thought which first penetrated my champagne-fogged mind. That I had just collided with heated stone. As if I were pressing my cheek against the warm marble of a carved fireplace mantle.
Then I looked up into the narrowed dark gaze of Lucian Manwarring, Sr. “I’m sorry, I—oh, it’s you!”
Well over six feet tall, with a chiseled jaw and thick, bright silver and black hair, any girl would be forgiven for thinking the man a complete DILF.
Daddy-I’d-Like-to-Fuck.
I mean, holy hell.
He was like Christian Grey, the later years.
There was just something about an experienced man with money and power that was intoxicating, even better than champagne.
Who wanted to mess with an immature twenty-nothing who was filled with selfish misplaced arrogance and ego when you could have a man who commanded the attention of world leaders and business titans?
But none of that mattered.
Because Lucian Manwarring was the devil in an Armani suit.
A corporate raider with the morals of a marauding barbarian hoard.
My father both hated and feared him.
My attempt to break free was stopped by his strong grip on my upper arms.
His lips thinned as he wrapped the soft, heavy cashmere of his coat around me, pulling me against the warmth of his body, “Where is your coat, little one?”
The deep, rumbling tone of his voice sent a shock of awareness straight to my core.
Then, the dream shifted.
CHAPTER 11
STELLA
The warmth from my skin faded as I watched from outside of my body.
I watched as we made our way, carefree and so full of life, down the stone steps. The dreamy, lovesick, and drunk, glassy-eyed look was clear on my face, with my bright pink cheeks and bright smile, as was the admiration on my father’s face as he whispered something to my mother, who just giggled and blushed like a schoolgirl talking to her first crush.
We were the picture of the perfect, elite New York family out at an event with not a single care in the entire world.
We looked like nothing could touch us.
We felt like nothing bad could ever happen to us.
Except now, I knew what was coming.
I had relived this moment so many times.
I screamed at them no, don’t, it’s not worth it. Stay a little longer. Get a hotel room down the street. Don’t drive in this weather.
I screamed with everything I had, but I didn’t make a sound, and the figures paid me no mind as they made their way to the waiting limo idling at the curb.
It was completely futile, but I still screamed as the cold grip of what was to come clawed at my skin.
It didn’t matter.
I had to try.
I followed them down the stairs, down to the limo, and even banged on the window, begging them not to go.
“Oh, it is so cold out tonight,” my mom said, pulling her shawl around me.
I pushed it away. “I don’t feel cold. In fact, the wind feels so good.”
My body was still warm from the heat of Lucian Manwarring’s arms. It was as if I could still feel the press of his fingers on my upper arms as the scent of his cologne still clung to me from where my body had connected with his.
“You’ll catch your death,” she said.
“Leave her alone. The car will warm in a moment, and we will be home before you know it. I called ahead and had the maids prep the fireplaces in the bedrooms.”
“Oh, that sounds lovely. So sweet and romantic—”
“Please stop talking.” I covered my ears with my hands. “I don’t want siblings, and I really don’t need to hear any of this.”
I was teasing them, and both my parents laughed as they leaned over me to give each other a cute little peck that I pretended to be grossed out by.
Most of my friends’ parents had an arranged marriage.
It was the norm in our society, but not my parents.
My parents had a love story that rivaled Charlotte’s.
They had fallen madly in love and stayed that way. They never argued or fought, and if they had ever had a falling out, I didn’t know about it. Even from the inside of this family, our lives were wonderful.
I had no reason to ever doubt that mine would stay warm, loving, and perfect.
“You guys are gross,” I said, not really meaning it.
“Well, if you find that king you want so badly, you will be just as gross,” my mother teased right back.
“When I find my king, we will be much worse, but in the privacy of our own home. Bleh.”
Both my parents tipped their heads back, laughing hard.
My mother’s bright smile and green eyes were the last things I saw before the world faded to black around me while my own cries echoed in my ears.
Next, I was back in my body.