Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
The grim frown remained on his face.
I sighed and hugged him. “Gabe, don’t worry about it. I’m actually happy I could do this for you. Your own restaurant. Wow! You used to sit on the phone with me for hours telling me how it would look and what you would serve.”
“Like I said, this is bittersweet.” He tightened his embrace.
“How about this. I demand you name the restaurant after me and provide at least one of my favorite dishes on the menu.”
“Done. Your name is already a part of the restaurant.” He pointed to the sign as I pulled away. “For some reason, Chase changed it to this.”
“What?” I glanced up at the top of the building and, sure enough, there were huge silver letters that said, Jasmine’s Hell.
A sad laugh left me.
Chapter 34
Closure?
The acoustic guitar melody to the song “Tomorrow” greeted my ears. Darkness bathed most of the restaurant, except for one table all the way in the back where a single crimson lamp hovered over it. A waiter stood by the table with his hands clamped to the side and a wide smile on his face.
He named the restaurant Jasmine’s Hell.
I’d told Chase I would talk to him in hell while it was raining flowers.
I guess I should watch what I say to him from now on.
A light shower of rose petals floated down from the ceiling.
It resembled those first few moments when the arrival of snow signaled winter. Slowly, inch by inch, so many different rose petals drifted along—scarlet red, pale yellow, blushing pink, and pure white. Their silky textures slipped past my skin, tickling my cheeks and settling on my shoulders.
A flowery perfume flooded the area.
I breathed it in and it felt like I had dived into a pool of blossoms right on the edge of spring.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Chase stepped out of the shadows near the table. “It took ten florists, two carpenters, and one brilliant mechanical engineer to do it.”
I paused.
Only four feet lay between us. It was the closest we’d been in two weeks. A rousing energy bridged from me to him and thickened the air. I wanted to run to him, touch his skin, rip off those buttons on his dark blue shirt, and explore what lay underneath the black pants he wore. Petals rested on his midnight waves.
It was all I could do not to run my fingers through his hair and rustle the flowers away.
This is exactly why I avoided Chase. Two weeks, and I still can’t be alone with him in a room.
“You’re stunning,” he whispered while the waiter bowed and disappeared into the shadows.
My flesh trembled as his gaze started at my eyes and gradually journeyed down the length of my body. Wherever he looked, my blood reacted, soaring to those areas and pulsing within me. He moved a foot closer to me.
Startled, I stiffened.
My breathing increased.
I turned away. “I don’t think I can do this.”
His voice sounded strained. “Do what?”
“Be alone with you.”
He touched the bare skin of my arm with his fingertips. Those feathery strokes triggered a soothing pleasure that swam within me.
I continued to look in another direction, as if not gazing into his eyes would protect me.
The situation was too overwhelming for my mind, emotions, and body. It was what my mother must’ve felt like when she sat in a room full of drinking people, trying her best not to salivate as wine was being poured or reach out for a glass and end her years of sobriety. I’d been so proud of myself. Two whole weeks I’d stayed away from him. But one minute next to him and I was ready to throw that all away for just one kiss.
“I only want these last minutes with you.” He glided his fingers from my shoulders down to the inner area of my palm. “And then I will finally leave you alone.”
I snapped my face to him.
“I won’t interfere with your job hunting. No more phone calls. No more sleeping outside of your apartment, hoping that one day you would come out and let me beg my way back into your life.” He moved his hands to my hair and ran his fingers through my tresses. His voice was low and only a whisper of the dominance he used to have could be heard. Now it passed through his lips with humility and an unassuming edge, like he was thinking through each word before he said it.
“Why would you leave me alone now?”
I’d known one day he would give up. I’d been ready for it, hoping for that moment. And now that it arrived, my heart swelled with a scorching pain I feared would burn through me.
He edged away, avoided staring into my eyes, went to a chair, and pulled it out for me. “You’re even more enchanting when you’re yourself and not when I dress and style you. How stupid I’ve been.”