Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 22685 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22685 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
"Because I'd like to see you choose to do the sensible thing for once...once I tell you my offer."
"Are you asking me to work for you?"
"No, darling."
Eve's world turned upside down with just those two words.
"I'm asking you to marry me."
And it stayed that way, too, after what he had just said.
"You've gone mad," she whispered. "You know that, don't you?"
"On the contrary." Hunter's lips twisted in a sardonic smile. "It's only because I have to think...objectively that I'm asking this." And since there was no point dragging things out—
"Our parents have started dating again."
Hunter simply went straight for the jugular.
"And they're keeping it a secret because of you."
Chapter Three
FIVE MONTHS AFTER LEAVING home...
The Italian restaurant was too fancy for Eve’s liking, not to mention being too fancy for her wallet either. But this was her mother’s favorite, and she would be damned if she'd let Hunter think she couldn't afford spoiling her own mom like this.
"I...I have something to tell you."
Finally, Eve thought. June hadn't taken more than three bites in the last twenty minutes. Something was obviously wrong, but she also knew her mother well enough to know that there was no point getting her to speak until she was good and ready...like now.
"I know this might come as a shock, but..."
Eve's concern grew as she watched her mother reach for her water glass with a trembling hand. "You can tell me anything, Mom. I promise I won't—"
"Boris and I are over."
Get mad, she had been about to say, but now she was just plain...stunned.
"We're just waiting for the lawyers to do whatever it is to do," June said shakily, "and then we'll be—"
"Divorced?"
"Yes."
"I don't understand." And she truly didn't. "Did he—did he cheat on you?"
June's eyes widened. "What are you—no, no, honey, of course not."
"Then why?" Her mom and Boris had always looked so happy together.
"We're just too...different."
"In what way?"
June looked down at her plate. “In ways I can't explain."
Eve’s chest tightened. “Mom—”
“It’s fine, honey. Really.” June reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “You don't have to worry about anything."
EVE SANK ONTO THE EDGE of the bed, her heart hurting as she thought back to that night.
I'm so, so stupid, God.
She was back in her old room, and everything was exactly as she had left it. Her posters from college. Her paperbacks. Her old riding trophies. None of it had been packed away, and the sight of it all should have brought her comfort. Maybe it would have...if not for Hunter's words making her realize how she had gotten everything wrong so, so badly.
I'm so sorry, God. I'm so sorry, Mom. I'm an idiot.
It just made her sick every time she thought about how she was so, so lost in her self-centeredness...that she had simply taken June for her word when her mother said her divorce was due to "irreconcilable" differences.
She had always thought Boris and June a perfect pair...and they were.
Or at least they had been until Eve had walked away...while unwittingly taking her mother’s chance at happiness with her at the same time.
Eve slowly started to cry.
What now, God? What now?
Hunter had given her this night alone to "consider" her options. But of course, both of them knew she really hadn't any choice at all. And honestly, all things considered, it wasn't really that bad a choice. Even her heart was okay with it, and yet...
Why can't I just say yes? What am I so scared of? Can't I just do this for Mom and Boris?
Eight years had passed since she had last walked out of this house. And a lot had changed since then. She...was no longer the old Eve, whose mouth ran faster than her brain and would—as Hunter often reprimanded her before—rather cut her nose to spite her face.
And Hunter...
He had changed as well. When she had asked earlier if she could simply have dinner in her room, the old Hunter would have stuck to his guns and tell her coldly to stop acting like a baby. But present-day Hunter...
He had simply nodded and bid her good night.
So what then...
What was stopping her?
Minutes turned into hours, but sleep still refused to come, and Eve decided it was time to take a walk. She rummaged through her old drawers and slipped into an old oversized college shirt before slipping out of her room.
The house was silent, most of the lights dimmed. Eve padded barefoot through the familiar corridors, muscle memory guiding her to the kitchen and out the back door.
The night air wrapped around her like a warm blanket, heavy with the scent of Texas summer. A mixture of earth, grass, and distant rain that shouldn't have been fragrant. But it was.
Her feet carried her across the grounds toward the stables, where a light still glowed in the front window, and Eve hesitated at the entrance.