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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Kyra Parsi
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January 13 - January 14, 2025
“This is Jamie Paquin, the employee we were discussing over the phone this morning. That’s correct.” “Jack.” Jackson Sinclair’s head tilted mockingly to one side. “I’m not sure,” he drawled, “her features weren’t exactly memorable.” My anger flared, a rush of buzzing warmth sprinting through my body. “Says the man with the personality of a hardboiled egg.”
“I beg your pardon?” His eyes slit into challenging icicles. He wasn’t smirking anymore. I wondered what I’d need to do to get them to close all the way. It probably wouldn’t take much. “Oh, I’m sorry, are you hard of hearing, Mr. Sinclair, or is wasting people’s time simply a hobby of yours?” I spat back.
Minerva’s lips twitched, amused. “You think he’s that dire? He needs a full-time babysitter and dating coach?” “To be honest, he probably needs two.”
“Miss Paquin, a fair warning, I have no intentions of playing nice or making the next thirty days easy for you. Take the money, forge the data, and save us both the headache and time.” I shot him a wry smile. “Mr. Sinclair, a fair warning, I’m sick of your shit and half the reason I agreed to do this was to make your life as miserable as you’ve made ours over the last eight months. You don’t scare me.” “That’s what this is about? You’re turning down twenty million dollars for a bit of revenge? A little short-sighted, wouldn’t you agree?” He leaned down an inch when he said the word “short.”
“Like I said, everybody has a price.” “Oh yeah? What’s yours?” “Approximately thirteen and a half billion, give or take daily market fluctuations.” Huh. “Less than I thought.”
“Let’s start with the basics, shall we?” I said smoothly, matching his taunting tone. “Tell me, Mr. Sinclair, whereabouts d’you think the clitoris might be?”
“Mr. Sinclair, with zero due respect,
“Go on a date with me.” Wait. My lip sprang free. “What?” “Go on a date with me,” he repeated evenly. He couldn’t be serious. “Absolutely fucking not.”
“Your father left his shares to your aunt?” That didn’t add up with what I knew about him and his family. I was very much under the impression that Jackson had practically been bred to take over the company. He’d taken over as CEO well before his father passed. “Not exactly, no.” He cocked his head. “Technically, he left them to her cat.”
“Fine. I’m wearing jeans.” I was half-hoping that would goad him into giving me a hint about the dress code, but it only made things worse. “Wear whatever you want,” he said dismissively. “You’re not going to be keeping it on for very long anyway.”
“The last two minutes don’t count. If this were a real second date, I’d already know your size.” I frowned. “What? How?” “Because your shoes would have been discarded on my bedroom floor by the end of the first one.”
He sighed. “Let’s rewind again. This isn’t how—” He was interrupted by the low growl coming from his left. “I’m nowhere near you,” Jackson complained, returning the lethal glare he was being fixed. “Mreor.” “Might I remind you, Cat, that this is my home, and that is my chair.” “MrEAAAARR.”
“Good girl,” he murmured, so quietly that I almost didn’t hear him. Wouldn’t have if he wasn’t standing so close. But I did. I definitely heard him. And I definitely didn’t hate it. Uh oh.
“You want to know a little secret?” He still hadn’t dropped his hand. “Only if it’s relevant to helping me find you a suitable match.” I had very little interest in learning anything about him otherwise. I swear his eyes were twinkling as they slid between mine, his smile jerking. “I kind of like it when you’re mean to me.” My eyebrows shot to my hairline. “Pardon?”
“This is the one you’ve got on now. It’s just you and me. No one else can hear what we’re saying. If you want to mute me at any point, then all you have to do is press this—” I wasted no time. His voice cut off abruptly and I grinned.
“And I definitely remember you saying you didn’t have a sense of humor.” “That is correct,” he said flatly. “I don’t need one. I have a lot of money.”
“I’ll give you a hint,” Jackson murmured darkly. His pupils ate away at the surrounding color as he leaned to whisper in my ear. “I don’t share, Jamie.”
“You okay?” he asked gently when he reached me. “I couldn’t get the dress off. Broke the zipper trying. I’ll compensate you for it, obviously, but we might need to arrange a payment plan if it’s made from mammoth tusks or something. Either way, you’ll eventually get your money—” “Jamie.” He tucked a gentle knuckle under my chin and tilted my face so he could scan it properly. “Are. You. Okay?”
“It’s okay, no one is surprised that you don’t have any friends.” A chuckle burst out of him, though his eyes remained closed. “Fuck me. What am I going to do with those two?”
“So, what now? Do you want to hang out, or…” “Sure, okay. But first thing’s first,” I said. “As my friend, I officially need you to make good on your earlier promise and get me out of my clothes.” He stiffened. Blinked. “No, seriously,” I said. “I’m stuck.”
“Have you seen this dress? I’m not letting you anywhere near it with that thing.” His eyes raked down my body, taking their time. “Yeah, it’s a shame.” He rolled his lips. “Guess I’ll just have to buy you a new one.”
“Would you rather I rip it apart using my hands again?”
“Great. Now may I tear it off you?”
I saw the signs. All of them. The glazed look, the slack mouth, the lean-in. And I still didn’t see it coming. I still gasped when his lips brushed mine, featherlight. Still blinked in surprise when tiny little sparks traced that exact spot. But I didn’t pull away.
“You taste like peaches.” “That’s... anatomically... impossible,” I panted. “Tell that to your skin,” he said before licking my jaw again.
“Molly and Mabel... saw us,” I explained, still fighting for air. “Okay.” His eyes locked in on my lips again. He leaned forward. My palm pressed to his mouth before he could kiss me, which made his eyebrows crumple. Like he truly didn’t understand what the problem was.
“All right, I guess I’ll just spit it out.” And then Jackson Sinclair, the absolute bane of the last eight months of my existence, looked me dead in the eyes and said, “I was thinking that you and I should get married.”
“I’m not going to marry you, Jackson. We’d make a horrible fake married couple and you know it.” “I know no such thing. We’d be great together. I’m even starting to like you, and I don’t like anyone save for my household staff.” “You don’t like me,” I said firmly. “Oh, but I do. I might even like like you.”
“Jackson, listen to me. You don’t like me. You just think you do because I don’t want your money and I’m a little mean.”
“And what are you going to tell them?” “The truth,” he deadpanned. “That I very much wanted to kiss you, so I did, and that you did not react violently like I thought you might.” “To be fair, I thought about it.”
“Quick reminder that I’ve turned down all of your previous monetary—” “I’d stop reminding me of that if I were you.” “Why?” He leaned in to whisper his answer like it was a secret. “Because you’ve managed to awaken something rather odd in me. The more you turn down my money, the more… inclined I become to want to spend it on you.” I blinked. “That’s incredibly irrational.” “I’m aware.” He sipped his drink. “You wanted a list of my kinks? There’s your first one.” My third mistake was asking, “People rejecting your money is a kink for you?” “No, Jamie, you rejecting my money is a kink for me.”
“A quick FYI—friends don’t have kinks centered around their friends, and if they do, they keep that information to themselves.”
His pulse jumped under my palm. “You feel that?” His hot breath grazed my skin, making me shiver. “It likes you.” I went rigid. Blinked. “I… pardon?” He didn’t know what he was saying. He didn’t understand what “my heart likes you” could be interpreted as, surely. “My whole body likes you.”
“You like being a little tease, Jamie?” Without waiting for an answer, his hand slipped a little too high up my skirt, edging up the fabric.
“I asked you a question.” His fingers inched up and up, ruining me with gentle caresses. “Do you enjoy teasing me?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “No?” “Mm-mm.”
“Come on. Show me what a good girl you can be.”
“Stand up,” he ordered softly. “Someone might walk in.” “I’ve instructed the staff to stay out of this wing and security cameras have been turned off. I told you I don’t share, Jamie. You’re for my eyes only. Now… stand up. Show me how good you are at following instructions.”
I was curled up against him like a drowsy kitten as he carried me upstairs, keeping me pressed to his chest while he whispered sweet little praises in my ear. I was such a good girl. A sweet girl. I’d done so well. He was so pleased with me. He was going to take such good care of me now. I deserved it.
and I should be able to move out by—” “No.” I looked at him then. His tone demanded it. “Pardon?” Minerva said. Jackson held my gaze, eyes narrowing. “No. I want the coaching, the shadowing, and all of the handholding I was threatened with when this whole nightmare started. You’re not moving out until the agreed-upon thirty days are over.” Shocked. Silence.
I couldn’t decide which was more amusing—my wide-eyed, dumb-struck cat, or the duck-walking half-giant at his mercy.
I snapped my fingers and pointed one at him. “You know what, we’re about to have our first coaching session.” “Fantastic.” He tossed his phone on the table as I plopped down on the couch beside him. “I have so many questions—” He wasn’t given the chance to finish. The moment my ass hit the cushion, his beautiful face was in my hands and his insufferably pretty mouth was captive against mine.
“Lesson number one,” I panted, pushing him back when he tried to chase the kiss. My palm was kept firm against his pounding chest as I glared into his dazed eyes. “There’s a big difference between lust and affection. This—” I fisted his shirt and yanked him forward for another hard, frustrated kiss before shoving him back again. “This is lust. That’s all it is. You and I have had the extremely inconvenient misfortune of being physically attracted to one another and were stupid enough to act on it.” Was he listening? He didn’t look like he was listening. “Stop staring at my mouth like that,” I
...more
If I lied and said yes, there’d be consequences. “Yes.”
“So beautiful.” He unbuckled his belt, dark gaze glued to my breasts. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Jamie. I can’t fucking handle it.”
I’d always, always, always wanted to partake in secret room shenanigans. This was amazing. Ria was going to lose her mind when she found out.
“Before we go... I’m gonna do something and I need you to not be weirded out by it.” He blinked. “What exactly—” I threw my arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug. “You’re a good dude, Bensen,” I said, my throat clamping over the words. “For real.” After a moment of hesitation, he patted my back. “Thank you, Miss Paquin. For what it’s worth, I think you, too, are a good dude.”
“What’s wrong with your face?” “Excuse me?”
Within seconds I was a sobbing, blubbering mess, and poor Jackson had exactly zero idea what to do with me. He kept trying to ask me what was wrong, but I was one missed breath away from hyperventilating like a hysterically crying child, so I couldn’t even babble out an excuse. The more I didn’t talk, though, the more flustered he seemed to get. “Stop it,” he demanded at one point,
When I didn’t obey, he wrapped me in his arms, lifted me up, and gingerly placed me on the counter. Then, because the man was dead set on ruining my life, he cupped my face again and started to kiss away my tears as they fell.
“Tell me what happened.” “Nothing.” I sniffled. “Except for the fact that my face smells like fish too now, which is a real bummer.”
