Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
“My boyfriend is coming,” Delaney says to Arlo.
“Come home with me,” he says, ignoring her, as his hand slides up my thigh. I make no move to stop it.
I should.
It would be the smart thing to do.
“No,” I tell him, still not looking his way.
I am not falling prey to his seductive ways again.
“So, Arlo, how have you been since I last saw you?” Delaney, the ever-so-sweet one, asks him as I sit there and continue to ignore him.
“Good, though I could be better. I have been seeing someone who is currently denying her needs. For the simple fact that she can’t place me in a box that makes sense to her. Which she finds irritating.” His hand flexes on my leg.
“Oh? Sebastian says you’re a therapist.”
I can see Arlo nodding in my peripheral vision.
“Yes, that is correct.” He squeezes my leg again.
“So, what do you do when she doesn’t realize what she wants?” Delaney pushes.
I narrow my eyes at her, hoping she’ll stop talking to him. The more she talks, the longer he’ll stay.
I don’t want him here.
“James is here,” Delaney announces happily.
“Have you found a box to slide me into yet?” That question gets me to turn and face him. He’s already smirking, his dark gaze flicking to my lips and back to my eyes.
“Out of my box, preferably,” I grumble, just as we both hear Delaney say, “Oh, James knows Soren.”
Turning, I see Soren talking to James.
“You know him?” I ask Arlo.
“Yes,” he answers without hesitation. At the same time, Soren’s gaze finds Arlo’s.
“Looks like you’re being called. Goodbye.” My mouth is close to his ear, so when he turns back to look at me, his face is dangerously close.
“You’ll miss me way too much.”
I shake my head in denial. “You have flies living in your head if you think I would miss you.”
When he leans in closer to me, his mouth grazes just near my ear as he says, “I’ll be back. And then you and I are leaving.” He slides out of the booth, then stands and walks straight over to Soren. James greets Arlo before he looks across to our table. His gaze finds mine before landing on Delaney, who is smiling at him. He offers her a small wave before he turns back to Soren and Arlo.
“They all seem to know each other,” Sebastian says.
“Maybe they’ve worked together before,” I offer. I don’t really know, but it seems as though they all defer to Soren as if he’s in charge.
I see something pass over Arlo’s expression as he meets my gaze, but I look away first.
“Maybe. They’re coming back now, so we can find out,” Sebastian says.
When the two men are a few feet away, Sebastian stands to allow James to slide into the booth next to Delaney. James presses in close to her and then kisses her.
“Interesting company you keep,” Arlo says quietly.
I turn my head in his direction, not realizing he sat back down. “Are you two friends?” I ask him.
He cocks his head to the side as he studies me. “I wouldn’t say that. Acquaintances, perhaps.”
When James and Delaney break their kiss, she asks the same thing. James smiles and tells us that he’s known Arlo for quite some time. I turn to Arlo and raise an eyebrow. He clutches his beads in his hand.
“Delaney said you two have been getting a lot closer,” I say to James. “Is marriage something you’re after again?” Delaney’s eyes go wide, and Arlo coughs. I turn to look at him. “Do you need water?”
He shakes his head and says, “Can we leave now?”
“No. I’m not leaving with you.”
“Are you two a thing?” James asks us.
“No,” I say at the same time Arlo mutters, “Yes.”
“Interesting. Arlo chasing a woman. How long has it been since you’ve had to chase a woman, Arlo?”
“Never.”
I smile at that. He’s always come across as having a God complex, and now I understand why. He’s used to women falling at his feet, not them saying no to him.
“You ever want to get married?” I direct the question at Arlo.
“No,” he answers, and I try not to scoff because I always had him pegged that way.
“I couldn’t imagine you as the husband type anyway,” I state.
“What does that even mean?” he asks.
“You know”—I wave a hand at him—“being tied down to one woman.”
“No, I don’t know. Explain it to me.”
“Well, you’re a man who is used to getting his way. It’s in the way you command me. For instance, telling me to come home with you.” I purse my lips. “Or propositioning me for sex.”
“Are you telling me you didn’t enjoy it?”
“Oh, I said no such thing. But I also want to be someone’s wife one day: no kids, a wife. And you are not husband material. So, I think, like I did with my last situationship, we quit before it goes any further.”