Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 164910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 825(@200wpm)___ 660(@250wpm)___ 550(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 825(@200wpm)___ 660(@250wpm)___ 550(@300wpm)
He has no idea what happens when anyone challenges Aracely Diaz to rise to the occasion.
Spinning around, I take off and head home, grinning damn near the whole way.
Until I remember that she’s for him tomorrow night. He won’t want her. He won’t like it.
But she might.
She’ll be kissing him, and it’ll be a look at what’s in store for him. Even a wife he isn’t attracted to will have a level of intimacy with him that someone he really loves won’t.
And Aracely is going to charge me for this. It won’t be money, but I guarantee I’ll have to fork over something I don’t want to give up. She loves to make Iron and me mad.
We weren’t the best boyfriends.
Heading into Mariette’s, I slip through the kitchen and stop at her office, where she manages everything to do with the restaurant and about a dozen other things my brother entrusts her with.
I lean on the doorframe. “So you know I’d do anything for you, right?”
She darts her eyes up, glowering.
26
Callum
Aracely Diaz sits in a unique position. Not only does she manage Mariette’s, a destination stop for any tourist visiting our coast with its famous key lime confections and its down-home seafood dumped right onto newspaper-lined tables, but she handles Macon Jaeger’s schedule, coordinates the community goings-on, knows everyone, keeps the family aware of any problems in the Bay, and stays abreast of every maid, cook, server, and laborer crossing into St. Carmen every day for work. In some sense, she has every single house in a ten-mile radius tapped. Wanna know what the Millers’ daughter gets for an allowance? Need to know what the Stevensons were fighting about last night? Aracely will know, and if she doesn’t, she knows who does.
When something happens in the Bay, people call her. She’ll tell Krisjen or Macon.
She’s also young, beautiful, and close with everyone in that family. She went from Iron’s bed to Dallas’s before I even left for college, and there’s no way they haven’t fallen into bed together again in the years since.
Dallas’s eyes hold mine as they both sit across from me in the car. The glow from the streetlamps coasts across his face as we drive.
I could marry her.
After all, I don’t need a woman with money, and she’d be crazy to not entertain the prospect of her children having a better childhood than she did.
I just need someone who shares my goals, and I’m not convinced that Aracely is so committed to the Bay as she is having power and helping build something. I can give her that times ten.
“Did you pick out the outfit yourself?” I ask her.
She sits next to Dallas, her long legs crossed in a black schoolgirl skirt with a baggy black T-shirt with holes in it. High-heeled ankle boots with buckles shine against her glowing olive skin.
She doesn’t reply, but she doesn’t avoid my gaze, either. Her deep brown eyes watch me, toying. I know she speaks English.
The outfit isn’t fit for the Wolfe Room at all, but that’s the point. I’d texted Dallas instructions on the performance. She won’t be in those for long.
I’m just happy she agreed.
“You look beautiful,” I tell her, and it’s true. Her complexion and makeup are flawless, her hair long and dark. “Although, you may find it difficult to run in heels.”
I drink my vodka as she looks to him, saying something with her eyes. I can imagine it’s If this goes badly, I’m killing you.
I smile to myself. Her temper is no secret, either. She’s like the male version of him.
“If you want this to be believable,” I add, “you should look at me. Not him.”
But she holds out her hand, her clutch purse sitting in her lap.
Right.
Dallas and I also came to an agreement in text that she was charging for this. Small price to pay for what I’ll come out of tonight with.
I pull out my phone. “You won’t want to worry about carrying a purse in there.” Tapping the app, I look at her. “Venmo?”
She replies, “561-555-9736.”
I punch in her phone number, tap her account, and send the cash. I tuck my phone away and finish my drink as we hit the dip at the beginning of the Fox Hill driveaway.
“No one touches me,” she states to both of us before settling on me. “If I want to touch you, I’ll let you know.”
We pull around the side of the field house, and I drop my glass in a holder. “As long as you don’t touch anyone else.”
It has to look like she’s here with me.
And she’s going to get naked.
The driver exits his seat and moves around the back of the car.
“Why did you agree to this?” I ask her.
Finally, she fixes a small smile on her face. “Know thy enemy.”
Maybe. Stories about the Wolfe Room abound and few outsiders gain access. I can understand the allure would be too great to resist.