Desperately Devastated (Addicted To You, Book Nine) Read Free

don’t involve clothes.”
    My face flushed. “Yeah?”
    “Yeah. It’s a promise. So I’ll come and pick you up at eight.”
    “I can’t.”
    There was a long pause. “Why not?” he asked, finally.
    “I just… something came up with school.”
    “What kind of something?” he asked suspiciously.
    “I have to go to New York City. There’s this conference for the drug I’ve been working on and they need me to help out.” I had flipped through most of Rachel’s clothes and she didn’t have anything for me to wear. What was I going to do? I wondered if I had time to run out and buy a dress or a suit or something.
    “Who’s ‘they’?” Justin demanded.
    “Who’s who?”
    “Who are you going with?”
    “Oh. Um, Dr. Klaxton. And Carter.”
    “Carter? The guy who caught you when you almost passed out? Oh, hell no.
    You’re not going, Lindsay.”
    “I have to!”
    “No.” His voice was firm and commanding. “You’re not going anywhere with that douchebag. You’re mine. And you’re not going anywhere with some other guy.”
    “He’s not some other guy,” I said. “He’s my boss.”
    Justin scoffed. “He’s not your boss, Lindsay. And you’re not going to New York with him.”
    “I have to,” I said. “I need to prove myself.”
    “To Carter?”
    “No, not to Carter.” I spotted a black dress way in the back of Rachel’s closet, and I yanked at the hanger. I held it up in front of me. It was a faux wrap dress, with a cinched waist and a slightly flared skirt. It was stylish and chic, without looking old ladyish. It could definitely work. I let out a sigh of relief.
    “Then to who?” Justin asked.
    “Who what?”
    “Who do you have to prove yourself to?”
    “Dr. Klaxton.”
    “Another guy,” Justin grumbled.
    “Justin – “
    “I’m going with you.”
    “What?”
    “I’m going with you. To New York.”
    “That’s crazy.”
    “I’m not leaving you with some guy who wants to get in your pants. I’m going with you, or you’re not going.” He sounded like he meant it.
    “You can’t,” I said. “We’re leaving tonight.”
    “So I’ll leave tonight,” he said. “What’s your flight number? I’ll book the ticket right now.”
    I couldn’t lie – I loved that he was being so protective of me, that he didn’t want me going to New York alone with Carter. And the thought of Justin being with me, looking out for me, gave me a flush of pleasure. I wanted to finish what we’d started in my bed yesterday. I wanted him close to me. I always wanted him close to me. But could he really come with me? It didn’t make any sense.
    And then I thought of what Carter would say when he found out, after everything that had happened with Adam’s flowers, that now I was bringing a guy with me on a business trip.
    “You can’t come with me,” I said. “It would be really unprofessional. What would I tell them?”
    “You’d tell them that you belong to me, and that I have a temper and I don’t give a shit about anything, and I’m coming to make sure nobody tries to fuck with you.”
    “Oh, yeah.” I rolled my eyes even though he couldn’t see me. “That would go over well.”
    “Look, I’ll stay under the radar. No one will even know I’m there.”
    I hesitated. “Of course they’ll know.”
    “I won’t sit near you on the plane. I’ll meet you at the hotel later, when nobody else is around. I promise to stay completely out of your way—Carter and Dr. Flatface won’t even know I’m there.”
    “It’s Dr. Klaxton.”
    “Whatever. Just say yes.”
    I hesitated, and his voice slipped into that flirtatious tone he used when he wanted to get his way. “Come on,” he said. “You know I can’t fall asleep without you. Are you really going to deny a guy his sleep?”
    “I wouldn’t want to,” I said, smiling.
    “Not that we’re going to be sleeping anyway,” he said huskily.
    Heat pulsed through my body, all the way from my toes to my fingers.