AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Not much of a breakfast person myself.”
“Then why …” I stopped, realizing he’d bought them for me. He’d bought all of it for me.
Well, damn.
There he went being all sweet again. It was strange. He wasn’t flowery or poetic, but a softer side lurked beneath that gruff exterior.
“Um, I had thought about making pancakes for us, but if you don’t want anything, a bagel works great.” I pulled the bag of bakery bagels out of the pantry and hunted down a serrated knife for slicing. Once I’d cut my bagel and found the toaster, I turned and leaned my back against the counter’s edge.
Conner had the coffee brewing and was retrieving something from the dining table. “Here, this is for you.” He handed me a brand-new iPhone. “My number and a couple others are programmed in already. Bishop is in there. If you can’t get ahold of me, call him.”
“Thanks.” I hadn’t thought about it, but I definitely didn’t want to keep using the phone my dad had given me.
“You have an idea of what you want to do?”
I stared at him blankly. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t expect you to sit here all day just because we’re married. What did you do before?”
“I was in school, then Mom died, and Dad didn’t really let me do anything.” I felt oddly self-conscious telling him that. I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t my fault my father was an asshole or that I’d lost my mother, but admitting to having zero purpose in life felt embarrassing.
“What did you plan to do before all that happened?”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly sure. The kind of things that interested me weren’t really career-type pursuits.”
“Like what?”
I debated how silly I’d look telling him the truth when the toaster ejected my bagel behind me and sent me shooting away from the counter. Slamming into his hard chest, I gasped, looking up into molten sapphire eyes.
“Excuse me,” I whispered.
Conner’s hands moved from my arms where he’d caught me and trailed down to my lower back, pulling me snug against him. He brought his face down to my neck and inhaled. “You always this jumpy in the morning?”
Now I was jumpyandbreathless because his cock quickly grew hard between us. We didn’t have sex last night, but how long would he wait? How would I know when I was ready?
A flurry of questions rained down on me, prompting me to wiggle free.
“Gotta grab my bagel before it burns or gets cold or something,” I mumbled, scurrying back to the toaster.
When I glanced over at my new husband, his mouth was quirked upward in a knowing smirk.
“This is yours also.” He went to his wallet on the counter and pulled out a black card, sliding it across the island to me. A credit card. And it had my name on it.
My eyes widened.
Conner’s narrowed. “Let me guess, that asshole kept your money hostage as well?”
“You say that like I had money,” I answered softly.
He shook his head and returned to the coffee machine, retrieving his freshly poured cappuccino. “Well, you have money now. Think about what you want to do. I have to run some errands this morning, but I’ll be back after lunch. You okay until then?”
“Yeah, of course.”
He nodded and took his coffee to the bedroom, presumably to get ready. Somewhat bemused, I plopped myself on a barstool and spread cream cheese on my bagel. How very strange. I didn’t know what I’d expected from Conner, but this wasn’t it. Maybe I’d been hasty to assume he was incapable of caring for me. Maybe what he was offering would be enough. If I had freedom and a certain degree of respect, I could be happy. Probably. And if I had money, I could access the things I needed to get my brother away from our dad.
Then what, genius? You think Dad will just let Sante go?
The few bites I’d had churned in my stomach. Was I willing to run? Could I gather enough money to escape with Sante? Did I want to do that? And if I didn’t, what did that say about me as a sister? Didn’t I have to at least try to save him?
