Millionaire Hero (Freeman Brothers 4)

I braced myself for an argument, but Mom just nodded. “Alright. I guess I have to accept that.”

“Good,” I said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “Now, I’m going to go hold my niece and then stuff myself.”

By the time I got home that night, I was exhausted. I stripped down and toppled into bed, then rolled around a bit to get comfortable. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t make myself relax. Bryn’s image kept showing up in my mind, and it was waking my body up.

There was no relaxing as long as I was thinking about her. My cock was hard, straining against my boxers, and I slid my hand down to wrap around it. Pretending the touch was Bryn’s, I ran my hand in long strokes up and down my shaft. It didn’t take long for the intensity of the sensation to build up until it was all but unbearable. Finally, I exploded. The tension and energy drained out of me, and as soon as I was cleaned up, I fell asleep.15BrynAs much as I thought it was a little ridiculous how much the doctor emphasized hydrating help me get over my stomach virus, it definitely seemed to work. I woke up Monday morning feeling like a brand-new woman. Just the fact that I woke up because my alarm was going off and not because my stomach was doing backflips was already a step in the right direction.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up. Still no nausea. I stood up and took a couple of cautious steps toward the bathroom. I was in the clear, and that felt fantastic. I celebrated my recovery by taking a long, luxurious shower and getting dressed in actual clothing. I even topped it off by putting on a full face of makeup and styling my hair.

I had no intention of going anywhere that day. Now that I was back to normal, I needed to throw myself headlong into work. I was still keeping up with my usual clients, but it had become more of a struggle over the last week. I had even managed to slip behind on two of them, just barely getting my work in by the deadline.

That definitely wasn’t acceptable. My clients might not have noticed the difference, but I did. I couldn’t stand feeling like I wasn’t on top of my work. Especially now that I had officially delayed the start of building up my savings by more than a week. I was going to have to work extra hard to catch up and get ahead the way I wanted to.

Getting dressed and putting on my makeup was my equivalent of war paint. It made me feel professional and put together, which made me work harder. And, as I had learned recently, it made sure I was prepared just in case one of my clients suddenly decided we needed to do a video call.

Glad I was back to normal and feeling pretty good about myself, I checked my work queue and pulled out my notebook so I could start my list.

Once my list was made, I started another list of non-work activities that needed to be done now that I had climbed out of the pit of stomach virus despair. That also finished, I jumped right into the first item on that list. Researching lawyers. I had been considering getting a lawyer all weekend while I thought about the situation.

Nick had already told me we couldn’t go after Justin for anything as of right then. But I still felt the compulsion to educate myself about my legal options and find out what lawyers were around in the area. Not necessarily for the issue of my money going missing, but because it might be helpful in other circumstances. It was nothing like realizing you’re the person you thought of as your life partner was a lying thief and that leading you to consider a whole new approach to finances to make you think about the importance of an attorney.

I researched lawyers in the area for a little while, jotting down contact information and basic notes about the ones who stood out to me. That finished, I threw myself into work. A few of my projects had gotten to a point when all I needed to do was add a couple of finishing touches and it would be complete. I got a deep sense of satisfaction and accomplishment out of finishing up an assignment and finally turning it in.

It felt like I was on a roll that morning. I finished up three of my projects and was making good progress on a couple more. When I got to a good stopping point for work, I pulled up my email and drafted a message to my regular clients. In it, I explained I was available for a bigger workload than normal and offered my reassurances I could manage the extra work at the same level of quality.