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)
“It’s not me,” I protested weakly. “You’re grieving. You’re not yourself.”
“I’m not so sure that’s it.” His gaze went to my lips before it slowly rose. “You aren’t going to give in on this car thing, are you?”
I lifted my chin and shook my head. Jonathan exhaled, his minty breath washing over my cheeks, his hands still in my hair causing my thighs to tremble. “Fine. But I’ll miss you in the mornings.”
“We live next door to one another. We’ll still see each other every day regardless.”
His head tilted, travelling down over my robe as though suddenly aware of how little I was wearing. “It’s not the same,” he muttered, one hand lowered from my hair to absentmindedly trace the edge of the robe. “Why are you wearing this?”
I cleared my throat. “I just ran a bath.”
Jonathan’s eyebrow quirked, his expression hot as a low groan escaped him. “I better leave you to it then.”
With that, he stepped back, and I missed his heat, his touch, so shockingly possessive. He walked to the door, and I found myself blurting his name, “Jonathan.”
He turned back, desire and curiosity all mingled in his gaze, causing my nipples to bead. Once again, he tilted his head. “Yes? Want some company in the bath?”
Oh, man, he was such a shameless flirt. I smirked at him and rolled my eyes. “It’s not your birthday this week, is it?”
“No.” He paused to take me in. “A shame.”
I chuckled before my expression softened as I studied his features. “Are you okay? Because how you reacted just now wasn’t normal.”
“It seems that when it comes to you, my reactions are anything but normal, Ada.”
I was still staring at him, trying to figure out exactly what he meant when he said a quiet, “Goodnight,” and left the apartment.
My head was all over the place when I finally walked into the bathroom, took off my robe and sank into the waiting water. I found my hand lightly tracing my neck, sifting through my hair where Jonathan had lightly gripped it. My nipples were still tight from how he’d stared at me. That stare told me that if I had been bold enough to invite him to share my bath, he wouldn’t have hesitated. Just thinking it had a fresh wave of arousal washing over me, and it took all my willpower not to give over to the fantasy of naked limbs and warm, soothing water. Not just any naked limbs, Jonathan’s and mine.
One thing was for certain, whatever was between the two of us, it wasn’t friendship. It almost felt like a joke for us to continue labelling ourselves as such, not when I suspected he wanted me just as badly as I wanted him. But I would soldier on. If I were going to continue living here and also grant us the grace to grieve our parents, I had no other choice.
The next day, a grey cloud hung over my morning. I was no longer being driven to Pinebrook in Jonathan’s car, and I missed his company even though I knew I shouldn’t. My car being fixed was a good thing. I needed to be able to rely on my own mode of transport.
Then mid-morning, I received a call from Jeanette in Head Office requesting to know if we’d caught the petty cash thief yet. When I told her we hadn’t, she started talking about how Fabers was looking to offload their less profitable businesses and were considering selling a few of the care homes they operated. My stomach sank, fear taking hold, not merely because I, alongside the rest of the staff, would potentially have to find new jobs, but also because everyone who lived in Pinebrook would have to find new homes.
I tried to put that worry to the back of my mind. Even if Pinebrook was sold, it didn’t mean the place would be shut down. It might just mean a transfer of ownership. The problem in that scenario would be the new owners trying to drain every last drop of profit from the place, thus reducing the quality of care we could provide.
The third reason for my bad morning was that Lewis was officially on leave, and Hannah and another carer, Magdalena, both called in sick with the flu. It appeared to be going around. Sally, our receptionist, had it last week. I put in a request with our usual temp agency to have some people come in and cover the shifts but hadn’t heard anything back yet.
So, we were short staffed, which meant I had to leave my office duties for the day and take up the slack for our missing carers. The work wasn’t completely new to me since I’d been a carer for a couple months early in my career. I’d had to switch over to office work because of my leg injury. I just didn’t have the capability to do a job that had me on my feet all day. I was reminded of this when I was exhausted by the time I arrived home, my leg aching all over.