Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 92734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
But she didn’t stand up and leave.
A few more minutes. She eyed her empty glass. Another martini wouldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like she was driving. She smiled at the nervous-looking waiter and ordered. He thinks I’m being stood up, too. Wonderful. More to keep her hands busy than anything else, she texted James. Hey stranger.
As soon as she pushed send, she regretted it. He hadn’t answered her call earlier. Yes, he’d called back—a call she’d ignored—but… really, she didn’t have a reason to be hurt or pissed or anything. They’d had sex twice, but they were hardly friends. She shouldn’t even be texting him right now. Another glance around the restaurant proved that Kellen was, in fact, still late.
Her phone rang in her hand, startling her so bad, she almost dropped it. “Hello?”
“I’m sorry I missed your call earlier.”
She was, too. Though it had allowed her to get through lunch without the distraction he offered—both a blessing and a curse, as it turned out. What the hell was she going to do about Dmitri? She straightened the fork next to her plate. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It is. I told you I’d be there and then I fucked up. I’m sorry.” He went on before she could answer. “What are you doing right now?”
“Being stood up, I think.” She forced a laugh.
“Another date with a guy from that list?”
“Yes.” This was what her life had been reduced to—and it hadn’t exactly been a dream to begin with. She was waiting for a man her father approved of, with the sole purpose of marrying her off, while on the phone with a man that was the enemy as far as the O’Malleys were concerned. “Apparently he doesn’t find Ciao to his liking.”
Something rustled on the other end of the phone, and she thought she heard a door slam. “He’s a fool.”
“I’m not arguing that. I’ve giving him ten more minutes, and I’m bailing. Right now a date with my bathtub sounds like heaven.”
James growled. “I like the picture that brings to mind. Bubbles?”
“Absolutely.” She smiled and nodded her thanks to the waiter who brought her drink replacement. “Mine smell like roses and suds up to extreme levels.”
“Damn, lovely, I’d like to see that.”
He wouldn’t be able to, though. He wasn’t welcome in her house, and she sure as hell wasn’t going back to his anytime soon. Unlike Teague, James didn’t keep an apartment somewhere outside the territory of their families. She let herself imagine what it’d be like to have him in a bed, to be able to cozy up with him on a couch while watching a movie, to do any of the thousand little things that people took for granted. It would never happen.
She glanced up to find a young man hustling through the tables toward her. His suit was wrinkled, and he’d obviously been worrying at his tie because it was loose and hanging cockeyed. She’d bet this was Kellen O’Neill. “I’ve got to go. I think my date is here.”
“He’s not worth your time.”
No, he wasn’t. She’d much rather stay on the phone, but this date was a necessary evil. “I’m not arguing that. Good night, James.” She reluctantly hung up and slipped her phone into her purse.
The guy stopped next to her table. “Carrigan O’Malley?”
“Yes.”
“I am so damn sorry. You wouldn’t believe the hell I went through to get here.” He dropped into the seat across from hers and scrubbed a hand over his face. “My car broke down two miles away and I had to hoof it.”
He wasn’t bad looking, though his red hair somehow made him look even younger than he likely was. Pretty blue eyes, though. She raised her eyebrows. His car broke down? It must have been some trek if he somehow managed to get lipstick on his collar in the process.
Another one bites the dust.
She sipped her drink. “You made it, though.”
“I did.” His smile was kind of sweet, and she was struck by the thought that her world would eat him up and spit him out without hesitation. A puppy, indeed. “Thank you for waiting.”
“I almost didn’t.” If she didn’t get this conversational ball rolling, they’d be reduced to commenting about the weather in thirty seconds flat. “So what is it you do, Kellen?” Why are you on my father’s list?
“I’m in software engineering.” He launched into the description of some kind of technological mumbo jumbo that she could barely follow.
She could actually feel her eyes glazing over, but she tried to focus. He might be a puppy, but this guy seemed genuinely nice, even if he was a damn fool for showing up for this date with evidence of another woman on his collar. There was no shark lurking beneath his skin, and she doubted he’d have the idiocy to shove her against a wall and force his tongue into her mouth. I could manipulate a man like this. With some careful planning, I could have him eating out of the palm of my hand.