Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
Simon let out a smug little humph.
It wasn’t like he wanted to drive her. He was only doing this because Simon had forced him to!
The Luke family estate was huge. It took at least ten minutes to walk from the main building to the front gate.
Lily had planned to call a cab and just needed a ride to the gate-anyone’s car would’ve worked.
But she had a few things she wanted to say to Simon alone, so she got in his car.
She thought he’d go around to the driver’s seat-but apparently, he had a driver.
As the automatic door opened and she settled into the backseat, Simon got in, too-right beside her.
Then he shoved that massive bouquet of delicate, radiant roses into her arms. “Lily, take it.”
James’ car was parked right next to theirs.
Just as he reached for the door, he saw Simon place the flowers in Lily’s lap.
That pale pink and soft apricot glow lit up her cheeks… but for some reason, it stung James’ chest.
He didn’t like Lily. He was sure the strange feeling was just because the gold dust on Simon’s suit was too damm flashy.
Too bright.
He brushed the thought aside, calm as ever, and got in the car.
Wishing them everlasting happiness.
“Lily”
Lily sat frozen, staring at the enormous bouquet in her lap.
She hadn’t expected Simon to give her flowers.
The surprise was so overwhelming that when Simon called her name, it took several seconds for her to process it.
She lifted her head and looked at him in a daze, just about to ask what his deal was today-when he said:
“Last night, you went running back to John again, didn’t you? Do you have any idea how much pain you’re causing Lizzy by constantly clinging to him? Last night, she drank a lot. She cried the whole time… She’s seriously ill now. If you keep making things worse for her and her condition deteriorates-I won’t let you off!”
“Don’t bother clinging to John anymore! Since my cousin wants me to be with you, even if I think you’re beneath me, I won’t disappoint him!”
Lily understood instantly.
So that was it-Simon had shown up at the Luke residence early in the morning with roses, all to give James the freedom to chase his dreams?
Well, she wanted James to be free too.
But even if she had to put on a show, she wasn’t about to do it with a walking disaster like Simon.
She hadn’t snapped at him earlier purely out of respect for James.
But now that James wasn’t in the car, she had no reason to spare Simon any dignity.
Her face turned cold as she shoved the bouquet back into his arms. “Simon, are you brain-damaged or just born with bubbles for brains? When have I ever clung to John? He’s the one who keeps pestering me! I’d be thrilled if he and Elsa locked themselves together forever-just so he’d stop bothering me! Elsa’s head over heels for him… If you really care so much about Elsa, you should be tying John to her, not throwing tantrums in front of me! And don’t worry, you don’t have to force yourself to look up’ to me-because I can’t stand you either!”
“Lily!”
Hearing her say she didn’t want to be disturbed by John… for some reason, Simon felt unexpectedly pleased.
But the second she called him brain-bubbled and said she couldn’t stand him, his devil-may-care face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a burnt pot.
“You think I want to be with you? I came to find you today because I don’t want you interfering with my cousin’s pursuit of happiness! For his sake, I’ll try to get along with you. Even if I don’t like you, I’ll try not to fight with you anymore.”
He sounded genuinely aggrieved.
Lily couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
She had no interest in wasting another second with him and cut straight to the point. “I don’t need you forcing yourself to deal with me. I don’t need your self-sacrifice. I’ve already found someone I want to date. Even if it doesn’t work out in the end, I won’t get in the way of James chasing what he wants. I’ve got money. If I wanted to keep a hot young boytoy with a great body, I could do it in minutes. I could pay a gigolo to fake-date me and still wouldn’t need you acting like it’s some big sacrifice to be around me. Besides…”
Lily gave Simon a disgusted once-over.
“…Any man over twenty-five is basically sixty-five. So if you really think I’d be with a geriatric like you, you think my grandma would be okay with that? You’re the one dragging your feet, pretending to suffer-that’s the real thing standing in the way of James’ freedom and true love! Stay away from me from now on. Don’t ruin my mood. You’re bad luck.”
Any man over twenty-five is basically sixty-five….
Simon worked out religiously. His pecs and abs were sharp and defined-he even had an eight-pack.
He could lift her with one arm. What kind of sixty-five-year-old man could do that?
Up ahead, a little boy darted into the road on a balance bike.
The driver slammed the brakes. Lily and Simon, caught off guard, were thrown forward into each other.
Lily jumped in fright.
Kids running around like that was terrifying. Luckily, there was no crash.
In that violent jolt, she’d grabbed onto something instinctively when she collided with Simon.
Still shaken, she didn’t realize she’d grabbed the front of his shirt.
Simon noticed immediately.
Today, his shirt had the top three buttons undone, as usual.
He could clearly feel her hand press against his chest.
Her body, her touch-so soft.
With her curled up in his arms like that, suddenly… he didn’t want to argue anymore.
Even though she’d just called him a sixty-five-year-old man.
Once the boy regained balance and ran off, Lily finally let out a long breath.
The way her face tilted, her nose brushed right under his chin. His face turned lava-hot.
If she just tilted her head up a little, her lips would meet his.
Her fingertips were still resting on his chest.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was shameless enough to take advantage of him-kiss him, grope him, maybe even-
Simon’s every breath was like fire.
Flustered and defensive, he had no idea what to do with himself. The only thing he could manage was to bark out a warning to mask how hard his heart was pounding.
“Lily, stop groping me.”
Right after he said it, he looked down at his chest-red to the ears.
Firm. Ripped. Not at all what a sixty-five-year-old would look like.
There’s no way she thought it felt gross.
There was still a driver in the car. If she really wanted to keep touching, he’d have to ask the driver to leave first.
“If you… if you really want to…” he stammered, “I’ll have him put the privacy screen up.”
But before he could finish, Lily realized where her hand had landed. She yanked it away from his shirt and leaned far away from him.
Most of her body was no longer resting on him, and his chest suddenly felt empty.
Then he heard her say, “Simon, are you sick or something? Why don’t you ever button your damn shirt?”
+10 F
“Driver, stop up ahead. I want to get out.”
The driver let out a deep, helpless sigh.
He’d worked for the Bale family for years-he’d watched Simon grow up. The Simon he knew was always the aloof, all-black-wearing prince. And yet these past few days, he’d suddenly started dressing so flamboyantly, even hand-picking imported roses first thing in the morning to bring to the Luke family.
Not to mention the three undone shirt buttons…
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