Thrive Read Online Free PDF

same shade, and underwear; a pair of French shorts and a bra, in silver-grey.
    “Curtis-”
    “I didn’t look. I told my secretary your sizes and she arranged it.”
    “At five thirty in the morning?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
    “I live in the city, Skye. Anything and everything can be arranged by picking up a phone.”
    “And you sent your secretary on a dawn mission to dress me?”
    “No. I text her while you were sleeping last night. What’s with the attitude? You can't go to the hotel dressed like that.” He took a mouthful of coffee. “You needed clothes, I arranged them.”
    Why did he not understand having his secretary order clothes from the city on a Saturday night and have them delivered to Hampshire, seven hours later, was a big deal? He shrugged it off and continued eating.
    I really had no idea who Curtis was any more, and I daren’t ask how he got coffee from Starbucks so early in the morning.
    “There’s a place across the road. Open twenty-four hours…for lorry drivers, I guess,” he mumbled, answering my unasked question without even looking at me.
    “Why are we going to the hotel?”
    “To get your stuff and check you out. Eat up.”
    I took a sip of coffee and my eyes rolled back as the warm morning juice slid down my throat. It was exactly how I liked it. I took another eager sip, and another. God, it was good, and brought a sense of vitality with it.
    “What are we doing after we’re checked out?”
    I didn’t tell him that my caffeine-stimulated mind had conjured up an escape plan. I didn’t want to leave him, but I had a feeling my sanity was riding on this and for the sake of saving it, I had to get away.
    Curtis lifted his cup to his mouth and peered at me as he drank it. He knew.
    He lowered the cup and licked his full lips.
    “I haven’t decided yet.”

 
 
Four
     
    I should have let her go – we all know that – but I couldn’t. I’d spent my entire life searching for Skye and now that she was in my grasp, I was keeping her there. Was she in trouble? Yes. We both were. But we couldn’t be separated now; I wouldn’t allow it.
    And her body…God, her body was made for me. There was nothing I wanted more than to lose myself in her until the rest of the world faded into the distance. Screwed up uncle/fathers, messed up criminal girlfriends, secrets we couldn’t even anticipate the impact of; families torn apart that were about to be reduced to scraps of people with nothing but the same last name…and yet all that mattered was her. Us. Being together and keeping each other safe.
    It was on the tip of my tongue every time she asked a question that would reveal everything if I answered it, to just tie her down, make her listen and reel off every bad thing I’d ever done, to drag her into the darkness with me so I wouldn’t have to be paranoid anymore.
    Still think I’m the hero? Still think I’m worth saving?
    I bet you’re not so sure now.
    ~Curtis~
     
    The car crunched over the gravel as Curtis pulled up and parked the car. The ride here had been quiet; I was paranoid, convinced he knew what I was thinking. He’d always had the ability to figure me out, and I guessed that hadn’t changed during our separation. He always knew what I was thinking, often before I was.
    We got out of the car and Curtis placed his hand on the bottom of my back as we walked towards the entrance of the hotel. We stopped at the desk in reception and were greeted by the receptionist.
    “Do you have a reservation?” she asked with a tight professional smile on her lips, but a Curtis-induced gleam in her eyes.
    She was checking him out, blatantly, and I tried to ignore the pang of jealousy, of possessiveness , that hit me. He looked gorgeous; I didn’t blame her for staring. In jeans the same colour as mine and a black shirt that gave him a magnetic yet untouchable edge, he looked completely irresistible. The ink on his arms was showcased by rolled up sleeves; a shimmering