Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 67966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Ross’s voice was steady, though Jonah could feel the tension rippling through him.
“Arnold Williams is my legal name now. And the fact remains that I came for Jonah. That’s the truth. The rest…I didn’t tell you because you didn’t need to know.”
For a long moment, Thorn just stared with fury swarming in his dark eyes. Then, slowly, through clenched teeth, he spoke, “You also didn’t tell me you were brothers. Jonah and Ross Matthews.”
Jonah’s heart stopped before his world tilted on its axis.
Jonah
Thorn’s voice was like ice as he placed both palms flat on the desk.
“I cannot, and will not, condone or accept this kind of pairing,” he said, his tone curt and sharp in its finality.
Jonah stiffened at Ross’s side.
Ross squared his broad shoulders, his arm still wrapped tight around Jonah’s waist.
“You’ve got it wrong,” Ross said, his voice steady, and jaw tight. “You don’t know the whole story. Jonah and I—we’re stepbrothers. There’s no blood between us. My mom married his dad when I was fourteen. That’s all, and it’s the truth.”
Thorn narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t believe Ross’s confession.
Jonah’s voice cracked as he added, “And my father…he was an abusive man. He beat my mother until she left. He lost her because of it. He tried to get sober, but after marrying Ross’s mom, he started using again.” Jonah’s eyes shimmered with old pain. “It got too bad for her. She had to run.”
Ross tightened his hold, pulling Jonah against him.
His throat burned, but he pushed through. “She took Ross and his sisters and disappeared. Changed their names. Hid them.” Jonah glanced into Ross’s green eyes, “And I lost him.”
“But I’ve finally found him now,” Ross stressed. “And I am not losing him again. Not to circumstance, not to secrecy, not to anyone’s damn rules. He belongs with me. Not with some stranger you might’ve paired him with, who would’ve surely loved him because Jonah is love. But no one you find will love him like I will.”
The PI shifted in the corner, but Ross didn’t break Thorn’s gaze.
“You don’t have to condone it,” Ross said, his voice fierce but raw. “I appreciate what Belladonna wanted to give him. But Jonah’s coming home with me. And I swear to you, Thorn, I’ll love him harder than any gentleman you could’ve chosen.”
For a long, aching moment, Thorn was silent. His jaw worked, his expression unreadable.
Jonah trembled in Ross’s arms, as Ross pressed a kiss to the crown of his head, whispering against his hair, “I love you, sweet Bear. Always.”
Finally, Thorn exhaled and leaned back in his chair as his sternness softened, the hard lines of his face easing into something gentler, something almost like relief.
“That,” Thorn said quietly, “is all I’ve ever wanted for Jonah. He deserves it.”
Jonah’s eyes welled as he broke free of Ross’s hold and went to Thorn. He wrapped his arms around him in a fierce hug. “Thank you,” he whispered, his voice thick with tears.
For the first time since they’d walked into his office, Thorn smiled. It was small, but it was genuine. He patted Jonah’s back, his eyes flicking to Ross with something like respect.
Ross again laid a protective hand on the small of Jonah’s back.
“We’ll make sure you get an invitation to the wedding,” Ross said with a grin.
Jonah turned to him, his eyes blazing—bright, beautiful, radiant. Ross smiled the kind of smile he’d dreamed of seeing again every night for six years.
The joy he felt was overwhelming.
His life was finally about to begin.
Orion’s Surfside Veranda Restaurant
Chic’s Private Beach
February 14th, 10:50 p.m.
The sleek black town car purred to a stop in front of the theater, and Galan stepped out first, offering his hand to Casey like the treasure he was.
His boy was radiant tonight. Casey’s hair was swept back from his face, accentuating the smoothness of his jaw, and his lips looked suckable with the light layer of gloss.
His pale-blue silk shirt—matching the color of his eyes—was fitted to his slim frame and tucked into tailored black leather trousers that clung in all the right places.
But it was the diamond-and-sapphire-encrusted white-gold collar around his throat, just above his open neckline, glowing like a beacon, that made Galan’s heart thud with boundless pride.
Casey had insisted all evening that Galan was doing too much tonight, repeating over and over that he was his Valentine’s gift.
But Galan refused to let his boy believe he was undeserving of fine things.
Tonight, he’d spoiled him with balcony private box seats to a modern dance ballet at the Chrysler that’d made Casey’s eyes mist, followed by an extravagant candlelit dinner in a four-star rooftop restaurant on Chic’s Beach.
Casey was beaming with wonder the entire time, even as he insisted he didn’t need all this.
Now, on the way home, Casey was nestled in his arms with those bright eyes shining up at him.