Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
“My lucky charm… my lucky charm…”
With trembling fingers, he tried to gather the larger shards from near Lily’s feet. But so many small pieces had already scattered beyond reach. No matter how he tried, he would never be able to put it back together again.
While the Ginger brothers were wholly consumed with searching for their broken treasures, too distracted to pester Lily any further, James swept her gently into his arms and carried her into the house. He immediately phoned his men and told them to come throw the three brothers out.
Mergan did manage to find his wooden charm in the swimming pool.
But Taylor and Bodger searched frantically for a long, long time and still couldn’t recover everything.
Like madmen, they scrabbled across the ground, heedless of their dignity, looking for the pieces of what they had lost.
Soon enough, the bodyguards arrived. Ignoring their protests, they forcibly dragged the three of them
Out.
From the upstairs window, Lily stood and watched as the bodyguards threw the Ginger brothers out into the night.
Her eyes held no pity, no hesitation. Only cold, final resolve.
Their regret, their concern – she needed none of it.
She only wanted to see them die without peace.
After everything that had happened tonight, Lily was exhausted.
She showered quickly, didn’t even bother drying her hair completely, and crawled into bed. Before long she had drifted into a drowsy, heavy sleep.
James came back from his own shower in the next room and found her sleeping sweetly, her face soft, her lips faintly pursed, her whole being looking soft and sweet, like a cotton candy that smelled faintly sweet- something that begged to be bitten.
But her hair was still damp, and that worried him.
Afraid she’d catch a cold, he picked up the hairdryer and sat by her bedside, carefully drying her hair with the gentlest touch.
As he worked, his chest brimmed with love so fierce it burned. He couldn’t resist wanting to pinch her soft cheek.
Just then, she rolled over and, in her sleep, hugged his waist with both arms, murmuring drowsily,
“Puppy…”
James’s face darkened instantly, as black as soot.
Because when Jackson had pretended to be her fiancé, he had called himself her “little puppy.”
So in James’s mind, when Lily mumbled “puppy” in her sleep, she was calling for Jackson.
Lily had told him before that she only saw Jackson as a younger brother, and James believed she cared for him.
But it was obvious Jackson’s feelings weren’t brotherly. And even if Lily truly thought of him as nothing more than family, hearing her call his name in her sleep made James feel like his chest was drowning in barrels of vinegar.
When he finished drying her hair, he set the blow dryer aside, his voice sour and tight. “Lily, I’m not Jackson.”
“Puppy…”
Lily didn’t hear a word.
In her dream, she was back in the Luke family estate, in the princess room Nancy had prepared for her, hugging her favorite plush dog.
She clutched James’s waist tighter, rubbing against him like she would with her stuffed toy, and lifted a hand to stroke what she thought was its furry head.
But she touched nothing.
How strange. She’d always been able to pat it before. Why not now?
Was her puppy being stingy, refusing to let her pet it?
She pouted in her sleep, grumbling, “Meanie…”
James’s face grew darker still, danger glinting in his eyes.
Her hand had clearly reached out to touch something-or someone. Did she still want to touch Jackson in her dreams?
“Lily, I’m not a puppy!”
The sound bothered her. How could a plush toy make so much noise?
Annoyed, she reached up, trying to cover this noisy “puppy’s” mouth so she could sleep peace.
But to James, it felt like she was feaching out for Jackson again. The jealousy burned so hot it seared through his self-control.
He pulled her arm from around his waist and stepped back.
But the distance only made his chest ache more. He stood at the window, trying to steady himself, but the sourness didn’t ease.
She needed to understand. He wasn’t Jackson. He wasn’t some puppy.
He needed her to remember that, even in her dreams.
James turned abruptly, his long legs carrying him back to the bed in quick strides.
“Puppy…”
Lily puffed out her cheeks in protest, eyes still closed.
Really, this plush dog was being ridiculous. She always got to hold him whenever she wanted. Why was he pulling away tonight?
Even if this “puppy” was a little noisy and not nearly as soft as usual, hugging him gave her a strange sense of peace..
Her hand searched blindly, reaching for him again.
Seeing her still stretching toward what he thought was Jackson, James’s jealousy blazed out of control, burning every trace of restraint to ash.
He bent down, cupped the back of her head, and captured her lips in a hot, demanding kiss.
“Puppy…”
She was still whispering Jackson’s name, and it only fueled James’s fire. His kiss grew deeper, fiercer, as if he could steal every breath from her and claim it for himself.
Unable to hold him in her dream, her sleep grew restless. The burning intensity of his kiss dragged her from slumber, and she opened her eyes in a daze.
“Puppy?”
In her dream, she had been hugging her plush toy. So when she blinked awake, still half-asleep, she thought the thing pinning her down was that same toy come to life.
But as her vision cleared, she saw it was James, kissing her like a starving wolf.
Of course-it made sense. She had been staying at his villa, not sleeping with her plush dog. She must’ve been dreaming.
Still half-asleep, she wanted to tell him to stop kissing her, that she just wanted to sleep. But before she could, his voice, thick with insecurity, pressed against her car.
“Lily… who am I?”
She reached up and touched his forehead. No fever.
So why was he asking something so ridiculous?
He was her boyfriend, the father of her child. How could she not know who he was?
She sighed, exasperated, but humored him anyway. “You’re James, of course.”
“Just now, you called me puppy…”
He buried his face in her neck, his voice muffled and raw. “Even before, when you were half-asleep, you called me puppy. Lily, you’ve said you love me, that you’ll always be with me. I want to believe that. I do. But hearing you call Jackson in your sleep… it makes me crazy.”
Her brows furrowed in confusion.
What did calling “puppy” have to do with Jackson?
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.