Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Thankfully, the thunderous expression in his dark eyes was aimed squarely at Theo. “What did you do?”
Theo seemed to tire of lounging in bed and climbed to his feet. It was everything Meg could do not to drink in the sight of him. There were people who were handsome or pretty or beautiful… and then there was Theo. His features should have been too sharp, his eyes too blue, his hair a little too mundane color of dark brown. Apparently whatever god created him hadn’t gotten the memo. In addition to being the most beautiful person in the room, he moved with a confidence that only someone born into it could pull off.
He grabbed another pair of lounge pants from the dresser. “She was short on tuition. Now she’s not.”
So few words to encompass the level of betrayal Meg couldn’t quite shake. She was short on tuition. Now she’s not. As if it really was no big deal, this bomb he’d dropped into her life. She turned to Galen, needing him to understand just how many ways Theo had crossed the line, but his dark brows lowered and he glanced at her. “That’s it?”
That’s it. That’s it.
If she hadn’t already suspected Galen came from money, that would have confirmed it. No one who had ever been poor would need to ask that question, because they’d instantly know exactly how Theo had crossed the line. Meg pointed at him. “Get out of my way.”
He studied her as if debating the wisest course of action, but something must have shown on her face because he slid out of the doorway. She turned to look at Theo. “If that night—if last night—meant anything to you at all, you’ll take the money back.” Meg grabbed her bra and skirt on the floor next to the door and yanked it on. She found her shirt in the hallway and her panties in the kitchen.
If there was anything quite as humiliating as having to grab up the clothes Theo had stripped from her like she was following some kind of sex breadcrumb trail, she didn’t know what it was. Neither of the men came out to see her off, which was just as well. She had nothing more to say to them.
Are you sure about that?
Yes, damn it, she was sure about that.
Meg dressed quickly and walked to the elevator. She stared at the doors, willing herself to push the button and get the hell out of there. From the first moment she met those two, she knew they were nothing but complicated. Her bartender instincts had been right—they usually were—and now she was in up to her neck and sinking fast.
My tuition is paid. I can go to school this semester. I am that much closer to graduating.
But at what price?
Nothing came for free in this world. Even if she couldn’t see the strings, this gift had them attached. All gifts had them attached. Meg worked too hard to get this far, only to be derailed now. She didn’t know if she could force the college to refund the money without dropping out—not when she didn’t have the funds to replace that amount.
Two choices; Drop out, or take the money.
Her head pounded and her stomach twisted itself in knots. All of the stress she hadn’t been able to escape for months doubled between one breath and the next. Meg was well and truly trapped. No easy path lay before her, and there was no convenient right answer.
She knew what Cara would say. Take the money and give both the men her middle finger as she walked out of their life. If they were stupid enough to drop that kind of money on her, it was their problem, not hers. But Cara moved through the world in a way that defied Meg’s comprehension. She loved her friend, but she didn’t understand how she could reason her way into anything.
Sometimes, she wished she could do the same.
“Meg.”
She’d hesitated too long, and now here was Galen, stalking down the hallway toward her. She held up a hand. “I’m leaving.”
“Not alone.”
Meg blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me.” Galen reached around her, his big arm brushing her back, and pressed the elevator button. “You’re playing in a game where you don’t know the rules and you don’t know the stakes. So, yeah, I’m not letting you walk out of here alone.”
If she squinted and tilted her head a little to the left, she could almost pretend he cared. “You can’t honestly think that someone is going to snatch me off the street in this neighborhood.”
Galen gave her a long look. “I get that you’re pissed about the money, but you shouldn’t have come back here.”
Wow, Galen, tell me how you really feel.
The worst part was that she couldn’t even be mad at him over it. He was right. She shouldn’t have come back here. Theo was like some giant sun moving through her life, and he drew her in despite herself. The elevator doors opened and she stepped inside, the metal box feeling ten sizes too small once Galen moved in behind her. Theo was big, but Galen was huge. He had the kind of body that would have been right at home on a Viking ship, pillaging villages and throwing a helpless maiden over each shoulder without breaking a sweat. His dark hair was a little longer than when she’d seen him last—not quite military short anymore—and his dark eyes seemed to take in everything about every room he walked into.