Atonement: The Lonely Ridge Collection by Lyz Kelley

Author:Lyz Kelley [Kelley, Lyz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Belvitri Services, LLC
Published: 2018-04-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Jacob lay sprawled on his bed, his forearm over his eyes.

She didn’t trust him. Not just him. She didn’t trust anyone.

She hid it well. Earlier in the day, he could see the way her hands bunched into fists as soon as the investors walked into the room. She smiled, her shoulders were relaxed, but her hands were white knuckleballs. At the pier, she moved behind him, using him as a barrier, when a guy needing change approached.

She didn’t need to fear him.

He would never do anything she didn’t want him to, but he didn’t have a clue how to open the doors and get past her reticence.

A sound coming from the hall shifted his attention. He held his breath to still his heartbeat.

“Don’t go,” he called into the darkness.

“I didn’t know if you were still awake.” Rachelle’s darkened profile appeared in the doorway.

How could I not? You consume me. “Do you need something?” Please, say me.

“I…um…no. I’m good. I just wanted to say thanks.”

“For?” he slowly lifted into a seated position. “I’m the one who dragged you to California to help me with my presentation.”

“For today. For showing me the city.” She took a few more tentative steps toward the bed. He barely breathed. One flinch and she’d be down the stairs and locked away in a flash.

“I had fun.”

She took another step closer. The moonbeam from the skylight above his bed set her in a spotlight. He could see every luscious curve. The sheer joy of seeing her standing in his room caused all his body parts to switch to party mode. His groin tensed when she took another tentative step closer.

A whiff of her floral shampoo quietly filled the room. He closed his eyes and took in her essence. His fingers itched to reach out and touch her, but he remained still and focused on his breathing.

He opened his eyes to see her next to the bed. “Why are you here Rachelle?”

“I don’t know.”

He adjusted the sheets at his waist. “Then perhaps you’d better go back downstairs. I want you in the worst way, and the longer you stand there, the more I want you. But you need to know why you’re here first.”

She didn’t leave—halleluiah. In fact, her chest heaved with indecision.

“It’s odd. Before…I mean, when my dad controlled my life, I rebelled by pretending I was a seductress. The men in my father’s world wanted to be teased, then caught. I learned to perform the part my father had assigned, and perfected it over the years.”

Bile soured his throat, his fists bunched the bedding, and he closed his eyes to swallow the disgust. “I don’t want you to be, or do, anything you don’t want to, Rachelle.”

“I know.” She glanced back at the door, then surprised him by inching closer. “It’s just I don’t know what to do when I’m not playing a role. You’re right. I feel the connection with you, but I’m not sure what to do about how I feel without giving you the wrong impression.

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