Surrender (The Forbidden Series Book 3) by Michelle Betham Read Free Book Online

know.’
    ‘Kira…’
    ‘I’d better go take that shower.’
    Because I need some time alone.
    Just a few minutes.
    To think…
     
     
    Neal
     
    I knock back another shot of whiskey and wish there was a way I could stop my eyes from constantly veering to the door. But she hasn’t arrived yet, and I’m on fucking edge. I was never over her, and I can’t believe I didn’t fight harder. I quit. I gave up. I let someone else win. I just rolled over and let him take her but, at the time, I couldn’t see an outcome that had me winning that fight. And I don’t know why I should think any differently now; why I think anything’s changed, but it has. Even though I’d all but decided to try and make it work with Helen, I’m not sure I can do that now. After what’s happened; what I’ve heard… I dunno. It really does feel like something’s changed. I just don’t know what, and I won’t know. Not until I see her.
    ‘Come and look at this painting, Neal.’
    Helen’s hand lightly touches my arm and when I turn to look at her she smiles, and all of a sudden I pull back from those rash thoughts of Kira and everything changing. I let her go, and maybe that was for the best. And she’s dealing with a lot right now, I don’t think she needs me complicating her life any further. And I’m not sure I really need her complicating mine.
    ‘I didn’t know Joey had such wonderful taste in art, but he tells me you’ve been advising him and Benni on some pieces for this new apartment of theirs, and you seem to be teaching them extremely well, Mr Cannon.’
    The second she calls me that I freeze. It feels like someone wrapped an ice-cold hand around my heart and squeezed just a little too tight. And it’s like that same someone is controlling me now as my head involuntarily snaps around, forcing me to look towards the door just as she walks in, hand in hand with the man she’s going to marry. And all I can think about are the times she called me exactly what Helen just called me then. Mr Cannon. Except, when Kira called me that it made my stomach flip and my head spin and I can’t stop the memories from flooding forward at a pace so rapid I can’t breathe. She looks incredible in a figure-hugging black sheath dress and killer heels, her blonde hair falling loose around her shoulders, and I feel my chest tighten as I watch her move further into the room. Her make-up’s minimal, because she never did need as much as she chose to wear when I first met Kira Blu, but her eyes are dark and her lips pale and I am dead, man. She’s never gonna stop doing this to me, and I know now that I can’t be around her, I can’t even look at her and not want her again. And it’s with a sense of crushing reality that I realise how much I still need her. How much I never stopped missing her; wanting her. And I don’t think I can get through the next couple of days unscathed. I can’t do it.
    I drop my gaze, and when I look back up she’s talking to Joey and Benni, and she’s still clinging on to Jon’s hand but they’ve now been joined by a tall man with dark-blonde hair who stands by Kira’s side, an almost protective air emanating from him as he glances towards her. I can only assume he’s her brother.
    ‘Is that it now, huh?’
    Once more Helen’s voice drags me from my thoughts and I reluctantly tear my gaze away from Kira to look at her. But I don’t really know what to say. I’d completely forgotten she was there. The second Kira walked into the room I became oblivious to anyone else’s existence, and I hadn’t meant to be quite so blatant about that. Because I hadn’t expected to feel quite so shell-shocked when I saw her again.
    ‘I’ll never be able to compete, will I?’
    Her voice is quiet, because even she knows that’s a rhetorical question. No. She won’t ever be able to compete. But I still don’t know what to say. I can’t have Kira, but is it fair to carry on letting Helen think we could still have