Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Alright.”
“I’ll make you feel like my king, but trust me, I’m not your queen.”
Damn. “Alright.”
“Do you understand?”
My eyes narrowed. Her sass was intoxicating and infuriating simultaneously. “I just said I did.”
“Gotta make sure that sinks in.”
“If men want a no-strings-attached relationship, why are you concerned about this?”
She gripped the edge of the table and leaned closer to me, her head tilted far back to look at me. “Because they always want more.”
EIGHTEEN
ELISE
“He’s paid in full.” Jerome held out the envelope to me.
I took it and stuffed it into my purse.
“That means you like him?”
“He’s handsome. Got that strong and silent type of energy I like. What do you know about him?”
“He’s rich. In the trafficking business. Doesn’t cause any trouble that I know of.”
“Does he butcher women into tiny pieces and put them in oil drums?”
“You think I’d let him near you if that were true?” he asked, smiling slightly like this guy was harmless. “He’s a man of his word. Pays what he owes. A bit of a socialite too.”
“Good to know.” I turned toward the bar and saw him sitting alone at a table, smoking a cigar and staring right at me. It was a hard stare, the kind that fucked me with my clothes on. He was a big guy, a powerhouse body underneath that long-sleeved shirt. That was how I liked my men, bulky with muscle, with arms as thick as my waistline. I’d fuck him for free, but the sex would be even better if I was getting paid for it. I put on my coat then walked across the room, heads turning in my direction. I locked eyes with him before I walked out the door.
Once I made it to the top of the stairs, I moved to the rear of the building to depart.
He appeared behind me. “I’ll take you home.”
“Fun doesn’t start until your tests come back clean.”
Jerome had drivers on standby to get us home safely, so I waved my hand and got the attention of one of the drivers.
“Let’s have dinner tomorrow.”
The car pulled up to the curb.
I liked that he never asked me anything, just stated what would happen. He took the reins and steered. “Or we could skip to the good part.”
“I want to know you.”
“Why?”
Without answering the question, he opened the back door for me to get inside. “Tomorrow at seven. Le Reginald.”
I gave him a slight nod before I got into the back seat.
He shut the door then stepped back, sliding his hands into his pockets. The windows were blacked out, but he stared exactly where I sat like his eyes could pierce through the solid barrier.
I studied his face and his frame, the way his clothes fit his strong body, the way his eyes looked darker than the underworld. I’d been with some bad men, but he seemed to be a different cut than the rest. When the car pulled away and I couldn’t see him anymore, I still thought of him. Thought of him as one hunk of man.
When I showed up at the restaurant, he was already there.
He had a private table in the back. The room was packed with tables side by side, but he had one that took up the entire back wall. Lovers sat close together over their candlelit dinners, and waiters in tuxedos moved around to attend to their guests. I walked across the room to where he sat, in a little black dress with a single strap across the shoulder. A bottle of wine was already at the table, and he didn’t wait for me to arrive before he started drinking.
I liked that.
He didn’t pull out the chair for me either or get up to kiss me on the cheek. He watched me with those mysterious eyes, his fingers resting on the stem of his wineglass. He didn’t break the silence with obnoxious questions like “how are you” and “how was the drive?” His eyes did most of the talking.
He poured the wine into my glass.
I swirled it a few times before I took a drink. “It’s bold. French or Italian?”
“Italian. Barsetti Vineyards.”
“Ah, yes. They make good wine.”
The waitress appeared and brought an appetizer that he’d ordered without my input. I liked that too.
I looked at my menu even though I knew there were only a handful of things I could order. If I ordered anything too heavy, my thigh gap would disappear. No carbs. No sweets. Basically nothing that made life worth living. “What are you having?”
“The steak.”
“Right on brand…”
He smiled slightly.
“You must eat meat every thirty minutes to look like that.”
He gave a subtle shrug.
“And work out a ton.”
“It’s a lot easier to get shit done if people are afraid of you. Any man can carry a gun, but not all men can kill you with their bare hands.”