Snowbound with the Billionaire by Lili Valente

Author:Lili Valente [Valente, Lili]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Self Taught Ninja
Published: 2017-11-12T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Dakota

I’m numb, stone cold, but at the same time, my blood is lava steaming through my veins. My breath howls in my ears, and my head pulses like someone has shoved a giant splinter beneath my forehead.

All I want to do is fall to my knees in the middle of Fifth Avenue and scream until my throat is raw, but I keep my hand in Garrett’s and my feet moving one in front of the other, heading back to his penthouse where I can fall to pieces in private.

“We’re almost there,” he whispers, squeezing my hand. “I’ve got you.”

I press my lips together, nodding as tears leak from the corners of my eyes. Garrett always has me. He’s always there to catch me and talk me down when things get so intense I’m not sure where he ends and I begin, or whether I can bear the fact that we’re separate beings. That he isn’t a part of me, close as skin, dear as blood that will never leave me, no matter what.

Especially now…

Now that Bo is…

Oh God, Bo’s gone. My brother is really gone. This isn’t a dream. It’s real, and I’m never going to see him again. I’ll never talk to him or laugh with him or roll my eyes behind Mom’s back when she’s wasted and talking about all the great times we never had back in the old days.

He’s gone forever, lost to a war that’s gone on so long it doesn’t make sense to anyone anymore. Lost because the men of this world can’t stop fighting over oil long enough to realize that every soldier is someone’s baby. Someone’s father. Someone’s brother-best friend-lifeline-firewall when everything else has let you down.

I swallow hard, but the cry rising in my throat won’t go back where it came. It hums into the air, high and pitiful as Garrett puts his arm around me, pulling me against his strong, warm body.

“Two more blocks,” he says in a low voice, because he knows I hate to lose control in front of strangers.

He knows me so well, but he also knows nothing at all.

Garrett’s heard the stories, but the son of a millionaire can never truly understand what it’s like to grow up dirt poor and scared and so sad. There were times when I was so sad, and Bo was the only one who could make me see the light flickering in the darkness, even when the sun was down and the clouds filled the valley and hope seemed like a fairy tale from a kingdom far, far away.

“But if you need to cry, cry,” Garrett adds. “Whatever you need, I’m here.”

My lips part in a silent sob as I sag against him. God, this man—he’s going to break me with his kindness again, the way he always does. He makes me feel so cherished. Loved in a way I never dreamed could be real.

“He’ll never know,” I choke out as Garrett half-carries me that last block to his building.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.