Page 147 of Reckless Vow

A cone of light gives me her location. What is she doing in the guest room? We have never used any of them. Okay, maybe once we fucked there against the window during our primal play.

I tap my knuckles on the smooth wood and turn the knob. “Brook.”

It’s locked. She fucking locked herself in. I barely stop myself from kicking the door off its hinges. Instead, I knock again. “Brook.”

“I’m going to sleep here tonight. I need some space.”

I lower my head against the door, my worst nightmares coming to fruition.

She’s retreating already. And after I solved her inheritance problem, she has no reason to stay.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Chapter38

Baldo

The smell of bacon wafts to me and I groan. My head is spinning after I almost emptied the entire bottle of whiskey last night.

I didn’t so much want to get drunk as I hoped it would help me sleep. Succumb to the darkness and escape reality.

I glance at the digital clock on the nightstand. Tough shit. I slept for two hours, and now I’m nursing a hangover of catastrophic magnitude.

The tantalizing aroma draws me out of bed. I find the sizzling bacon and Brook in the kitchen.

She makes a face when she sees me, scrunching it like she was in pain. “I’d say good morning, but you don’t look like it’s one for you.”

So we’re going to pretend last night didn’t happen. Fuck. I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and down it.

I lower my forehead against the cold stainless steel door, and almost jump when she puts her warm hand on my back. Instead, I tense.

Her small palm covers only a tiny space between my shoulder blades, and yet it sends tingles through my whole body. My cock stirs. I guess the fucker doesn’t have a hangover.

“I found the bottle, so I thought you might need a good, greasy breakfast.” Brook plants a gentle kiss on my back and returns to the stove.

“Are we going to talk—”

“Eat first. Sit down.”

“Someone is bossy this morning.”

She looks at me over her shoulder, her face a vision. “I have an excellent teacher.”

And now my cock is at full mast. Great.

I climb onto the stool, and she pushes a plate in front of me. “Do you want butter on your toast?”

I nod, and she smears two slices of crunchy bread and hands them to me. “It looks delicious.”

“And it will help your stomach. Do you need an aspirin?”

“For fuck’s sake, can you stop, Brook? Let’s not—”

“Okay, okay.” She raises her arms in surrender. “But please eat while I tell you I’m sorry. I was really disappointed about the TV series, and so upset with Dylan. And with myself for having such a parasite in my life for so long. And I know you meant well.

“But I need you to let me fight my own battles and fail. I know it’s your nature to make things better for me, but what I need from you is to support me even when I fail. I’m sorry I overreacted. But with everything else that’s going on… I just needed some space.”

With everything else that’s going on. That’s the core of our issue.

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