Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
“Fuck,” he swore. “I gotta get that. It’s probably them wanting me back on set.”
I nodded quickly, burying my face in his chest so I could sneakily wipe my tears on his shirt. I swallowed hard. “Of course. I just stopped by to say hi.”
He chuckled at that as he held me steady on the desk while he pulled out. His cum gushed out of me and all over the antique desk.
“Oh no!” I said, hopping off the desk and grabbing for my purse to find something to clean it with. But Janus just laughed and pulled me into a bear hug.
“Fuck, I love you.”
I felt the flutters of the Beans doing flips in my belly then, as if wondering what all the fuss with my body shaking like that was about. And even though I heard voices just outside in the hall and I knew Janus’s cum was still dripping off the expensive antique desk behind me, I could only laugh my ass off, too.
TWENTY-FOUR
HOPE
So I was grinning as I headed down the rest of the stairs, still laughing about having barely cleaned up the desk in time and getting my clothes settled before the door pushed in and several men started speaking Italian at us.
I chuckled as I pushed the door open onto the back alley that led to the water taxis.
“Hey. You.”
I looked up as a breeze full of salty sea-canal air hit my face.
And saw her. Again.
“What do you want?” I asked Lena, glaring as she walked towards me in the cleavage-baring blouse and capris she’d come to visit Janus in. Along with sky-high heels. How was she even standing up straight on these nubby cobblestones and not tripping on her ass?
I crossed my arms over my chest. Had she been here, just waiting for me to come out? Or had she been waiting for Janus?
She smiled at me, like a snake baring its fangs. “I was hoping we could talk.”
I shook my head. “Well, you’re delusional. You don’t deserve a second of my time.” I turned to go.
She laughed, and it wasn’t her cultured, beautiful one. “You actually think you know them? Either of them?”
I rolled my eyes and started walking towards the dock.
But she got in my way. I was happy to shoulder past her. I gave no shits. Pregnancy had given me a different perspective on things and I had absolutely zero tolerance anymore.
“Do you even know that it wasn’t Janus who got into the accident all those years ago when they were teenagers? It was Leander.”
What? Her words had me pausing in spite of myself.
“Then Leander convinced Janus to take the fall for him.” Lena shrugged. “I mean, it was the obvious decision. Leander is by far the superior actor. And only one of them was realistically going to make it.”
She propped her hand on her hip. And I was annoyed, because both of us had just realized that she’d captured me in place. I didn’t want to stand here and listen to what she had to say, and I would bet my left kidney that neither Janus nor Leander would want me to either.
But still, my feet stayed frozen where I was.
Her thin little smile arched up on the edges. “So you didn’t know. And Janus has been jealous of his brother’s career ever since.”
I definitely rolled my eyes at that and turned to leave again. It was ridiculous to listen to anything she had to say.
“Holy shit, it’s not pasta that’s made you fat. You’re pregnant! Oh my God!” Her laughter echoed between the tall buildings lining either side of the canal. I looked around quickly, no doubt giving away the truth of what she’d said. But it was instinct at this point to check for eavesdroppers. No one was around.
“He finally did it.” Lena shook her head, still smirking.
“What the hell are you even talking about?” I asked, pissed at both her and myself. I was two seconds away from leaving her in the dust.
It was only some terrible pit in my stomach that kept me anchored to the spot. Had the boys really lied to me about their pasts? I mean, even if Lena was telling the truth… after meeting their mom and learning all I had, who was I to judge a decision they’d made as teenagers?
Though it did sound bad that Leander would have let his own brother take the fall for him. Janus had spent six months in juvie for the crash. And his career… well, he didn’t have one after he got out of jail. He was considered damaged goods. And Leander, the golden child. The talent.
A deep whisper inside me hissed: you can never trust a man deep down. Just look at your own father.
But even if Leander had done some disappointing things in the past, there was still Janus. He was a man I could trust. Janus had been nothing but honorable to me.