Christie Ridgway [Rock Royalt Light My Fire (epub)

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.Shit.Maybe it was leftover adrenalin, he tried telling himself, that bright look the natural result of her taking her power back from the asshole ex.Or it could be surplus lust, he supposed, though after last night he thought she'd be at least temporarily sated."Ren?" she said, her voice gentle.Her expression matched it, her face so soft that his heart jerked, waves of both tenderness and remorse rising up to batter the thing.Oh, shit.The evidence was too strong to ignore.Cilla Maddox fancied herself in love with him.Before he could move away, her hand brushed his arm, a brief, warm touch."Hey," she said, with another smile."Let's start over.Good morning.""Oh, Cilla," he murmured, a hunger welling in his belly that had nothing to do with food or sex.He cupped her smooth cheek and stared into her beautiful eyes, wishing he could articulate how sorry he was.Wishing he had words to explain that if he could, he would be the man to deserve those sparkling eyes, that open smile.What irony, that when Cilla finally dropped her armor it was to Ren, of all people.What irony and what misery.Because he was best at detachment.Wasn't he already as good as gone?Stroking her face with his knuckles, he frowned, noting the faint streak of blood his broken skin left on her perfect flesh.Didn't that just say it all? If Ren wasn't careful, he'd wound her."Cilla." What would he say? What should he do? How could he walk this back? "We should—""Check out your inheritance from Gwen," she said.He blinked."What?""I found the box.Or at least I think I did." With a nod of her head she indicated a large plastic bin nearby.Sure enough, his name was penned on top.His inheritance.For days he'd avoided searching for it, and now it sat eight feet away.It's good, Ren told himself now.Perfect timing.Once I take care of that obligation, I can leave.I can go back to London as soon as tomorrow and then these glittering stars in Cilla's eyes will die a swift and easy death.Still, he approached the box on lead feet.At his side, Cilla practically hummed with curiosity, and when she grabbed his free hand to draw him toward the bin at a quicker pace, he barely resisted the urge to spin them both in the opposite direction.Then run.Dismissing his odd misgivings, he hunkered down, and on a deep breath unlatched the lid.What had he expected?It certainly wasn't a set of photograph albums, neatly sandwiched by the plastic.He and Cilla exchanged surprised glances."Have you seen these before?" he asked."Never." She wrapped her arms around herself as if suddenly chilled.He felt cold feet tap dancing down his spine too."Let's get these to the house.Have some coffee while we check them out."Even the sun streaming through the kitchen windows didn't dissipate the dark cloud he felt hanging over him as he deposited the box on the table.Cilla disappeared for a moment and came back without her princess garb.But in jeans and a hoodie she didn't look any more comfortable than he felt."I don't remember Gwen with a camera," she said, eyeing the box as warily as he.Ren shoved his hands in his pockets."Maybe they're not filled with photos.Could be newspaper clippings about the Lemons—""Why would Gwen leave those to you?"He shrugged, keenly aware neither one of them had yet to pull out an album.There were ten of them, their bindings dust-free leather.Feeling foolish for hesitating, he yanked his hand from his pocket and reached into the bin.The first book made a solid thunk as he set it on the table."It's heavy," he said.Then, like ripping off a bandage, he flipped open the cover.Photos.Photos of babies, without identifying names or dates.He and Cilla stared down at them."That's got to be you," she said, pointing to an infant with a dark shock of hair lying on a blanket."And the slightly bigger, bald one beside you is Beck, I'll bet."Ren squinted, trying to see his grown-up features on that tiny face."Maybe," he said, then flipped to another page.More lying-on-blanket poses.This time he thought he recognized Beck in the one without hair.Farther along in the book, other infants joined the first babies who'd graduated to sitting up, then toddling about."Walsh and Reed," Cilla said, pointing to tiny persons who did resemble Beck's younger brothers.Why would Gwen leave these to me?Cilla pulled out the next album and then he paged through the one after that.In shot after shot were photos of the Lemons' sons: Beck and Ren, Walsh and Reed, Bing, Brody, and Payne.First, as babies staring at their toes, then as toddlers sitting beside each other in a sandbox, finally as small children surrounded by towers of colorful wooden blocks.There was nothing particularly unusual about them as pictures of growing, playing children.But something about them niggled at Ren."Oh, look!" Cilla exclaimed.She'd delved into yet another album."All you boys dressed as skeletons for Halloween."Seven small figures in black fabric printed with anatomically correct human bones [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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