Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
And he wants me to be his wife.
Lucian Daire wants my family’s company.
I want to watch him burn for it.
He thinks I'm nothing more than a spoiled princess and I think he’s a heartless bastard.
But no matter how much we push, we keep pulling back together.
When I discover he needs a wife and he realizes my determination to save my family’s legacy, a deal is struck–lines are drawn.
But the more we fight, the more those lines blur.
Because hatred is just passion turned inside out.
And when it finally explodes, it threatens to destroy us both.
And we might just be desperate enough to let it
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
PLAYLIST
She’s Always a Woman - Isak Danielson
Left Handed Kisses - Andrew Bird (ft. Fiona Apple)
Dreams - Brandi Carlile
Head Above Water - Olive James
Exploding - Angie McMahon
Like That - Bea Miller
Sleepwalking - James Arthur
Poison - Alice Cooper
Guy I Used to Be - Lawrence
Take Me Home - Chord Overstreet
Real Love - Ashe
Angry Hill - George Ezra
How Could You - Jessie Murph
Mad at Me - Sexyy Red
Sick - Dominic Fike
Amongster - POLIÇA
Hurt - OneRepublic
Dear Love - Forest Blakk
What If This Is All the Love You Ever Get? - Snow Patrol
Tin Man - Miranda Lambert
Strange - Celeste
Make You Drip - CryJaxx
Hold My Girl - George Ezra
The Most - Miley Cyrus
Ghost Town - Kyndal Inskeep
Tornado Boy - Jillian Rossi
STRESS - Michael Aldag
Cool - Gracie Abrams
Risk - Gracie Abrams
Free Now - Gracie Abrams
Scared Of Loving You - Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco
Moment of Weakness - Tenille Arts
Somebody Else - Ruelle
Be Still - Canyon City
Too Much - Dove Cameron
A NOTE
Aspen’s mother is from Puerto Rico. It was important that I represent her heritage accurately and with the most respect possible. I’m grateful to my three sensitivity readers who helped me accomplish this while still keeping true to Aspen as a character.
CHAPTER 1
ASPEN
“Are you kidding me?”
The office door hit the wall and swung back closed with a slam, almost drowning out my question. But my anger was louder, bolstering the question across the room to my father’s feet.
“Good afternoon, Aspen,” he calmly greeted with a heavy sigh that I swear they taught all fathers on day one.
Congrats! Here’s your baby girl and here is how you sigh with exhausted patience every time she acts how you don’t want her to.
He could sigh all he wanted. My anger was justified by the bullshit I just heard.
I stomped across the imported rug to where he stood beside his desk, almost meeting him eye to eye in my pumps.
“No. Not good afternoon. It’s actually a shit afternoon. Especially when I’m minding my business, getting my coffee, and find out from overhearing an intern that my father is selling my company.”
His lips flattened—the only reaction to my accusation. “You know you shouldn’t be having coffee so late in the day.”
“Are you shitting me right now?” Shock mixed with anger peeled my eyes so wide I expected them to pop out of my skull.
Along came another sigh. This time with my name trailing behind. “Aspen…”
Before he could say more, a deep voice cut in behind me. “Is it your company, though?”
I’d stormed in, so full of rage, I hadn’t considered someone else might be in the office. Not that I gave a shit because my discovery took precedence and whoever decided it was a good idea to butt into my conversation could fuck right off.
Slowly, I peered over my shoulder with a curled lip, my eyes narrowing to glare daggers at the voice I didn’t recognize.
Even with the sun shining through the wall of windows lining my father’s office, the man lurked in shadow. Like the sun shriveled up and ran away before it got too close to him. He sat back on the leather couch, one leg casually crossed over his knee, his strong thighs splayed wide. My eyes lingered over how they strained against his black slacks, spiking my irritation.
This man lounged as if he owned the place with his hand resting along the arm of the couch, tapping long fingers as if I had interrupted him.
Which I probably had, but I didn’t care. I was playing the daughter card and Mr. Dark and Dangerous could suck it.
And what had he asked? Was it really my company?
I recalled his tone, and any twinges over his muscular thighs and long fingers burned up in the resurrecting flames of anger. “Excuse me?”
His fingers stopped. “I asked if it was your company,” he repeated. “Or is it your father’s company that you wish to own someday?”
He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. The move brought him out of the shadows, revealing sharp features and eyes that still lacked any light. The alluring black depths attempted to lure me in—to ignore his question. But the words wrapped around my throat and yanked me back to reality.
The reality of another person who dismissed me with some shallow stereotype. The reality that this man probably leveled men and women with that dark stare and expected them to crumble at his feet.
I turned, pulled my shoulders back, and slipped into the cold bitch that got me as far as I was. This man had no idea what he was talking about. He may think he was correct in assuming Quinn Music Group only belonged to my father, but I’d devoted every part of myself to helping him build the company bigger and better. I’d happily done it because I knew one day it would be mine. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”