Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“You’ll be there a lot then,” she murmurs softly.
That’s the hardest of hard no’s, but I don’t want to freak her out. “No. I’m going to do some hiring and restructuring. I want to be busy, but not with hotels. I can’t say I regret not being there for Mika when she was growing up and just being the same kind of absent man again now that she wants me in her life. I want to be here. I want to have time for family. For her. For you.”
“You could bartend more. A few nights a week. The nights I play. I think it would be lovely to work together.” She offers that without hesitation, but the blush steals up her neck at the soft suggestion.
I trail my thumb along her jawline. “I think doing anything with you would be wonderful.”
She wriggles on my lap, and my cock throbs beneath her. “That’s because we’re still basically strangers. It’s easy to think a stranger is admirable because you can’t see all their faults.”
Logically, I know she’s right, but I still get a swell of anger toward anyone who has made her aware of her shortcomings. “Faults or not, I’m not changing my position on that.”
She grins at me playfully, losing her shyness and seriousness, her pupils growing heavy and darkening her eyes. “I’m not changing my position right now either.”
She’s so beautiful, especially when she smiles. It grabs all the strings of my heart and tugs on them. Along with all the strings to other anatomy as well.
She twists her finger through a strand of her hair. “It’s nice being this close-up. I can see all the details of your lovely face without my glasses or contacts.”
“I agree. We should be as close as possible.” I kiss her lips, long and slow, getting us both good and heated before she breaks it.
“I need to have my parents over for dinner and talk to them about all this. The condo, my life, my breakup. You.” She guides my palm to the folds of her robe. I shudder in a good way, and so does she when my hand dips inside and palms her breast. “For a real first date, I wouldn’t mind seeing your place, ordering something in, surprising you with sexy lingerie, and getting banged on the hood of your car. As long as we won’t damage it and you have a private parking area.”
Holy fire cracking onion rings. Not that that would be a good combination, but it’s all my addled brain can come up with. Blood flow is currently being commandeered for more important purposes.
“Do you want me to be there when you tell your parents?” I’m not throwing her to the wolves. Probably literally.
She shakes her head slowly. “I appreciate the offer, but I need to do it by myself. There’s more we need to talk about, and it’s between us. Mostly things I should have voiced for years now.”
I want to tell her not to take no for an answer. Not to let her parents talk down to her and make her feel unseen and unheard and small, but she’s got this. There’s a new determination tightening her features. It’s like the paint and wallpaper gave her more than just a small color perk up.
“Also, I accept the job offer.” She kisses me, playfully tugging at my bottom lip with her teeth right before she sits down fully on my aching cock. “The world won’t end if we work together. What’s world ending is throwing away this chance at happiness. As long as you’re okay, your hotels are okay, and the people we love are okay, then no matter what happens, we’ll dust ourselves off after everything goes major dumpster fire, or we’ll fall in love and then deeper and deeper in love.” Just like that. Like she can order the universe and dictate the laws of life and the future.
Her words strike terror like a lightning bolt straight to a metallic heart, but they also destroy me in all my soft spots. We’ll fall in love and then deeper and deeper in love. She wasn’t fearless when she said it, but her voice didn’t falter. She believes it, even if she’s scared too. What’s world ending is throwing away this chance at happiness. Just like that. It could be that easy. Hard. But also easy in a hard way.
“So,” she concludes. “We have to do this. We have to date each other. It’s decided?”
“You’re young. You’re talented. You have a whole good life ahead of you. So many things. All the things. Are you sure you want to spend it with an old geezer?”
She thumps me on the shoulder, getting her sass and humor back after those beautiful words that carry so much weight. “This particular geezer has a very nice appendage, so I think I might be able to be convinced.”