Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
I’m not normally up this late. In the early days, when I was managing my first bar, I put in enough late nights to shave ten years off my life. Nowadays, I make a habit of being in bed by eleven most nights.
I keep my attention on the time as minutes tick by, all the while considering what I know of Antonio. He’s new, young. Is he good-looking? I don’t fucking know. I can’t remember his face.
I grab my phone and text Ramón back.
Cristiano: Is she home?
Ramón’s response is instantaneous.
Ramón: No reply yet.
I set my phone on my desk, screen side down, and refocus my attention on work, trying to dredge up a single fuck about these renderings.
My phone buzzes and I leap at it.
Ramón: Still nothing.
I dial him and, as soon as he picks up, ask, “Does the guy have a peg leg or something? Why’s it taking him so long to walk her home?”
He coughs to cover up his laugh. “Would you prefer I call him?”
“I don’t know, it’s been—”
“Eight minutes, sir.”
“I’ve walked her home in less.”
This is a lie, of course. I haven’t timed it, but I want Ramón to feel as antsy as I do.
“Let me give him a bit more time,” Ramón says, trying to soothe the situation. “Antonio is a good employee, a friend of my nephew. We can trust him if that’s the issue here.”
Trust him with Isabel? Not likely. I barely trust myself around her.
“Fine.” My response is curt and then I hang up and call Isabel.
She answers after the fourth ring, obviously shocked to hear from me.
“Hello?” she asks tentatively.
I can hear her friends in the background.
“Who is that?” a feminine voice asks. It’s Simone.
“Our boss,” she replies, her words quiet like she’s holding the phone away from her mouth.
“Hugo?”
A bubbly laugh spills out of her. “No! Cristiano.”
“Damn, the bloke is into you, babes. Madly.”
Isabel shushes Simone, then returns her attention to me. “Erm, hi.”
I pretend I didn’t hear any of that. “How far are you from home?”
“How did you know I was—”
“How far?”
“Two minutes? I don’t know.”
“Is Antonio with you?”
“The security guy? Yes.”
“Good.”
“Okay…” Silence. Then, “Can I go now?”
“No, you brat. Talk to me.”
“About what?” I hear the smile in her voice.
“How was work?”
“Good. Aura was really busy.”
“Tell him the crowd was wild!” Simone cuts in, shouting right into the phone. “Tips were massive. Lunch is on me tomorrow, you two. No, wait—sorry, I blacked out for a minute, thinking I was posh. I can’t afford that. You lot get your own lunch.”
“Isabel.” I draw her attention back.
“I’m here.”
“Now how far?”
“I see our complex up ahead. Is that good? Do you trust that I’ll manage the last few yards all on my own?”
“Let Antonio walk you to the door and then I’ll stay on the phone with you until you make it upstairs.”
“Because you’re worried something might happen to me in the elevator?”
Truthfully, Isabel? I don’t know. Of course my employees are housed in a safe location—I wouldn’t have chosen it otherwise—but I can’t help but worry, and that scares the shit out of me.
“I’m walking closer. Closer…” she teases. “The doors are sliding open. I’m waving to Antonio. He’s texting someone.”
A second later, my phone buzzes, and I don’t have to look to know it’s a message from Ramón letting me know Isabel has arrived home safely.
“Now he’s walking away and I’m calling the elevator in the lobby. Simone and Annika are looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.”
I lean back in my chair, content to listen to her even if she’s trying to goad me.
“I’m stepping into the elevator and the doors are closing and if the call drops—”
“You’ll call me back.”
She huffs. “You’re so unbelievably bossy. Do you realize that?”
I hear her friends laugh.
“I knew he would be. He has that look about him,” Annika chimes in.
“We’re going up. What are you doing? Am I allowed to ask? I should be allowed to know, I think.”
“I’m working.”
“Of course.” I sense her eye roll. “I could have guessed that. Okay, we’re on our floor. I’m waving goodbye to Annika and she’s telling me to thank you for the yacht day and now I’m going inside. Surely you’ve had enough.”
“Don’t hang up.”
“Cristiano.” I can tell she wants to sound exasperated, but she can’t quite get there. I know I have her dangling on the end of the line. She wants this phone call as badly as I do. “I’m tired and I need to change.”
“So put me on speaker and change.”
She laughs, sounding exasperated. “You realize I share this tiny apartment with Simone.”
“Yes and Simone,” her friend interrupts, talking in third person, “is off to have a quick shower, so you two have five minutes to wrap this up!”
A moment later, a door shuts and Isabel sighs. I wish she hadn’t gone into work today. She has to be exhausted. I should let her go, but I can’t.