Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 105756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Leaving my door open a crack so I could hear him if the vomit choking incident occurred, I crawled under the duvet and tried to sleep. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop replaying the kiss, nor his huskily spoken question, Can I taste you?
My thighs clenched at the memory.
It had been a long time since a man spoke to me in such a way, and I was turned on beyond belief. I had no right to be so aroused from Jonathan’s drunken come on. I should be incensed, but I just couldn’t find it in me, not when he’d called me beautiful, and certainly not when I’d enjoyed his lips as much as I had. The way he’d practically commanded me with his tongue. I couldn’t help wondering how well he’d kiss while sober. Then again, that was a futile thing to wonder since he very obviously wouldn’t have kissed me at all if he weren’t drunk out of his mind. The beer goggles were the reason he’d thought me beautiful.
With any luck, he wouldn’t remember what he’d done, and the incident could live embarrassment free in my head only.
I also wondered why he’d drank so much. I’d been living next to him for a couple weeks and hadn’t witnessed him drink like he had tonight. Perhaps he’d simply been to a party and went a little overboard. Ben had mentioned Jonathan was going out after work, so we wouldn’t need to pick him up on the drive home.
It took a long while to fall asleep, and I found myself anxiously waking up several times to check on Jonathan. Each time, he was sleeping soundly, his breathing steady and even. My concern for him wasn’t unusual. When I was a kid, Dad often got blind drunk, and Mam would storm out of the house in a fit, normally taking Frances with her and leaving me to watch over him and make sure he survived the night. It had always been that way. I was closer to Dad, and Frances was the apple of Mam’s eye. Until the day when he was the worst I’d ever seen him. The day that changed everything.
The next time I woke up, it was to the buzz of my phone ringing. Seeing Frances’ name on the screen, I answered promptly.
“Morning, sis,” I greeted, my voice a little groggy.
“Oh no, did I wake you? The girls always have me up at the crack of dawn, and I sometimes forget that other people aren’t up as psychotically early on a Saturday.”
“You did, but it’s fine. I didn’t plan on sleeping in anyway. How are you? Everything okay with the kids?”
“I’m fine. The kids are good. Still a little forlorn over Dad, but that’s to be expected. I was actually wondering if they could come visit their aunty Ada in her new apartment today? They haven’t seen you in a while, and they keep pestering me to go see you.”
“Oh,” I said, my brain kicking into gear since I still hadn’t gotten around to telling Frances about the penthouse yet. As far as she was concerned, I was living in an apartment with two flatmates, a fictional setup far from the luxury I’d been enjoying as of late. “About the apartment, there was actually a change of plan in the end.”
“There was? How so?”
“Well, do you remember Jonathan Oaks?”
“Of course. I won’t forget that handsome face any time soon,” Frances replied humorously, and my tummy flipped, remembering last night. The way he’d kissed me, drinking me in like he’d been dying to.
“Well, it turns out, he owns an empty property and offered for me to rent it at below the market price, so now I have my own place. Lucky, eh?”
“Wow, that’s … I wasn’t expecting that. But how did you even see him again after the funeral?”
“I had to stop by Leonora’s to collect some of Dad’s stuff that was left behind,” I said, recalling that Jonathan still hadn’t returned those items after I’d sped off that evening. “Things weren’t working out in the flat share.” I hated to lie, but I just couldn’t bring myself to reveal the truth to my sister. “I mentioned it to Jonathan, and he took pity on me.”
“Well,” Frances said like she was absorbing the information. “That was kind of him.” A silence fell before she went on, “Are you sure that’s all there is to it?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just that people don’t generally go around doing such kindnesses for virtual strangers. Plus, the way he behaved the first time you met doesn’t really mesh with this offer to rent his property. He could have an ulterior motive. Didn’t you say he worked in investments? What if he’s dodgy and doing insider trading? Or cleaning money for criminals?”
I laughed at that. Frances’ imagination could run a little wild at times. “And how would letting me rent his apartment help with any of that?”