Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 61248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
I tear myself away from my thoughts and the flowers and change into my gym clothes. I’ll run to the drugstore and workout, and hopefully have time to shower before Ethan returns. A few minutes later, I hit the street and end up walking the wrong direction. I’m lost in New York City, but I eventually get my morning after pill. I find a Starbucks, order a drink, and then hold it in my hand, a little weirded out about taking it. There’s no baby. This just stops there from ever being a baby. It’s the right thing to do.
It's the right thing to do.
I pop it in my mouth and down it with my white mocha, standing immediately and heading for the door. There’s no reason to linger on what I’ve done. It’s not my time for a baby. I have a career on the verge of greatness. But one day…
Thankfully, I manage to return to the hotel without another wrong detour, hit the gym, and then stop by the hotel store for a water. I’m just walking past the hotel coffee shop when I stop dead in my tracks as I find Anna and Ethan standing inside the doorway in what looks like a heated conversation. She then turns and starts walking this direction. I dart into the enclosure that leads to the bathrooms, praying she doesn’t head this direction. With relief, I watch her head for the front door and exit. But that relief is short-lived as I watch Ethan exit the coffee shop and rush by me.
“Anna!” he calls out, and as I step out behind him, I watch as he exits the hotel in her pursuit.
Oh God. Oh no. My hand presses to my belly. He went after her. I think he still loves her.
I pant out a breath and whirl around, aware now that I’m in the wrong place with the wrong man. Business and pleasure do not mix. They never have and never will. I all but run to the elevator, and as I wait for the car to close, part of me wants Ethan to appear and explain all of this to me. But he doesn’t appear. When I’ve packed my bag and he’s still not in the room, my fears are confirmed. He left with her, and I’m the unfortunate mistake back in his room. The “bitch” in his room.
I write him a note:
Ethan, business and pleasure don’t mix. We both know it’s true. We both know this was a mistake. But thank you for everything.
Goodbye, Sofia.
I stare at what I’ve written, “Thank you for everything,” and cringe. I wonder if he’ll think I’m thanking him for the flowers or the orgasm, or something else? Whatever. It doesn’t matter. I head for the door, and then downstairs, and I hate how much a part of me still wants him to show up and whisk me off of my feet and back into his bed.
But he doesn’t.
Chapter One
Ethan
One hour earlier…
I’m pissed when I enter the lobby of my father’s office where I find his secretary behind her desk. Tabitha is her name, a pretty brunette, who is always six feet deep in cleavage, and I suspect is fucking my father. I don’t like her for no good reason. I walk past her, as she calls out, “He’s on the phone.”
As if I give two fucks.
I burst into his office, hotter than I have been in a long time and shut the door behind me. “What the fuck, Father?”
“I’ll need to call you back,” he says to whoever he’s talking to, replacing the receiver on the cradle. “Good morning, Son.”
His shirt is crisp. His blue suit more expensive than some cars. At fifty-eight, his dark hair is thick and neatly styled, only a hint of salt and pepper at the temples, but I don’t miss the thickening lines around his eyes, that do nothing to mute the arrogance radiating from the depths of blue stare. “What did you say to Sofia?”
“That’s the newest one’s name?”
“What did you say to her?”
“I believe a direct quote would be ‘leave the bitch in the room.’ I thought I was talking to you.”
“Of course you did.” My tone is pure condemnation. “Now she thinks she’s one of many.”
“Is she?”
“What is your problem?” I demand, stepping to his mahogany desk, opposite him.
“You know how to get me nice and spicy, Son. You keep blowing me off.” He leans forward. “I come before your cock bath in some woman.”
“She’s not just some woman. And you started the relationship out by making her think you’re a total dickwad.”
He studies me a long, hard moment, his tone softening. “Who is she?”
“I have no desire to share that with you right now. Maybe not ever.”
“I’ll apologize. I was, as noted, feeling spicy. I’ll send chocolates to your room with a note for Sofia. I’ll mend the broken fence.”