Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Jaak was really here.
She wanted to turn around so she could look at him, but her legs simply refused to move. She wanted to say so many things, but her throat refused to work. The only thing in her body that functioned right now was her heart, and only because it was still hurting.
Tension tightened into a painful knot in the billionaire’s chest as he stared at Ilse’s still form. He used to live his life without uncertainties, but now he knew it wasn’t like that at all. He had never hesitated on anything because he had never cared enough.
But now he did, and now he had no fucking idea what was the right thing to do.
Do I go to you, Ilse?
Do I wait for you?
Do I walk away?
But then she started to move, away from him—-
And the billionaire acted without thinking, spurred only by one simple, essential thought.
He could not lose her again.
“Wait.” The word seemed to arrest her on the spot, and he was glad for it. He moved towards her, and she remained still.
And when their eyes met, their worlds started to turn again, softly, slowly, in unison, almost as if it was the way it should be.
Jaak. Jaak. Jaak. His name played over and over in Ilse’s mind as the billionaire filled her vision. He looked as sophisticated as always, with a black topcoat over his suit and his hand-stitched leather shoes sporting fancy, intricate lines on the edges.
He looked the same, but he also looked different, his handsome face marked with unusual lines of tension.
And as she stared at him, Ilse realized belatedly that he had been doing the same. “I must look like a fright,” Ilse muttered, thinking of how she only had her old tattered parka over the nurse’s uniform and her only pair of boots. She tried not to be self-conscious about it, but it was hard. In all the days he had been gone, it was impossible not to let news of the billionaire get to her, and she had known he had been with women far, far more glamorous than she could ever be.
“Are you fishing for compliments?” The billionaire had wanted the words to come out a relaxed, teasing drawl, but he realized too late that he had overestimated his ability to remain in control.
Tension still managed to permeate his tone, and his question came out more abruptly and sharply than he intended. When he saw Ilse jerk, his fists clenched and he cursed in his mind at how he was fucking it all up.
“I’m sorry,” he said tautly. “I didn’t mean to sound offensive.”
“But you were.” Ilse’s tone was flat.
“Because you’re an idiot—-”
She gasped, and this time he cursed out loud.
He was supposed to be the most dazzlingly charming of all the de Konigh men, and yet right now all he could do was insult Ilse and say one wrong fucking thing after another.
Jaak shoved his hands into his coat’s pockets. “I’m sorry.” And still the words came out harshly.
“You don’t sound like it,” Ilse accused.
“Because,” he snarled, “I feel too much, and it’s making it impossible to think.” When Ilse’s eyes widened, he knew he had shocked her, and he almost laughed, thinking, You and me, babe. You and me. He had never imagined that things could get this complicated, this deep, but it was, and even so—-
He slowly took a step forward, his chest squeezing as he gave her all the time of the world to run away from him.
But she didn’t.
“Ilse.” He spoke her name hoarsely, and ah God, just saying it already felt too much, felt like it was more than he deserved. But even knowing that, he just couldn’t let go.
“I fucked up,” he said unevenly. “You were saying things that I didn’t want to hear. You were forcing me to think of things I didn’t want to think, and I fucked up. It was like being struck by temporary insanity—-” He waited for her to say something, but she only gazed at him with brown eyes that seemed too painfully bright, and Jaak sucked in his breath.
Am I too late, Ilse?
Am I no longer someone you can trust?
Am I supposed to walk away?
And just when he thought it was the end, he heard her speak.
“Are you sure it’s temporary?” A smile wobbled on her lips as she delivered the joke in an unwieldy tone that cracked just a little at the end, but still she didn’t look away from him, her too-bright eyes answering all his unspoken questions.
No, you’re not too late.
I still trust you.
And I don’t want you to walk away.
Chapter Eleven
For a few minutes, there was only the sound of raindrops gently falling against the black umbrella the billionaire held over them, mingling with the occasional splash under their shoes. They walked close to each other, close enough to touch, but somehow they managed to keep apart, that one last inch of space between them defined by a myriad of emotions that both of them still had to unravel and resolve.