Page 29 of Come Here and Kiss Me

“Professor Wolf,” she mocks, her cheeks still flushed and with a look in her eyes that I love. “What if we get caught?” she teases.

“Jesus, Brook, I just want to kiss you and get used to it outside of a fucking bedroom or restaurant bar.”

She laughs a bit, then looks away. A moment passes, and the air changes.

“How are you doing with all of this?” I ask.

She shrugs. “As well as I can be.”

Reality slowly comes back, and I decide to confide in her. “I have a PI looking into this. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway. People already have a clear opinion about me.”

“And what’s that?”

“Don’t act like you don’t already know what it is.”

“Try me.”

She rolls her eyes. “People think I’m just a spoiled little rich girl with daddy issues who sleeps around.”

“Who’s people?”

She glances at me. “Everyone we know.” I fucking doubt they all know, but obviously something happened.

I try my hand at flattery. “I thought everyone wanted to be Brooklyn Chambers?”

She huffs. “They might, but that doesn’t change what they think about me.”She picks at an invisible thread on the sheets.

There’s so much I want to say to her, but I hold back. I can’t give her what she needs to hear. I still don’t trust her.

Instead, I lean closer and softly kiss her. “All that matters is what you think about yourself.”

Her eyes narrow before I add, “We’re going to the charity event, so make sure you have a dress for that.”

“I don’t have any of my dresses.”

“Why not?”

She stares at me like I haven’t read whatever memo she sent me. “He changed the locks.”

“Your father changed the locks?”The anger that rises inside me is irrational, yet…

She nods. “I can’t get the rest of my things, so I have to go shopping. Woe is me, right?”

Despite her trying to make it come out as a joke, she’s simply trying to hide her real emotions from me. Not that I blame her. She doesn’t trust me either.

“Your father’s a prick.”

She shrugs again and pulls out a vape from the bedside table. “You want a hit?”

My brow arches as I watch her suck in and then blow out a puff. “I’m too old for that shit.”

“That’s right,” she teases. “You’re what? Pushing forty?”

“You little shit.” I kiss her cheek and leave her to her weed and emotions before running her a bath and ordering her to take one.

I can see in her eyes that she wants to thank me, and she does… by standing in front of me. She shrieks and jumps into the water the second I reach for her. I resist the urge to follow her because I have work to do. Once I’m in my office, I text my lawyer and tell him he needs to find a way to get all her shit from her dad’s place.

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