Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
This is Kate West with Channel 7 News.
I don’t realize the teacup has fallen from my hand until I hear the crash on the floor and feel the hot liquid hit my foot. “Shit.” I jump back and run to the sink, fighting off tears retching the tiny amount of tea I put in. It’s stupid right? It's not like we are in a relationship. I haven’t told him about the baby and hadn’t decided if I was. Sure, eventually he would find out, especially with Cheryl and Nick being married, but no time soon, I hope. So why am I so hurt and disappointed? “Definitely not telling him now,” I say to myself, wiping my mouth and beginning to clean up the glass and stuff.
In the car I try to listen to the radio. The Fred Show is my go-to, but of course, Nick and his Honey are the topic of conversation. Knowing that is all any of them are going to be talking about, I turn it off and simply allow my head to be silent. Big mistake. Like it has been from the last two months, our time together during my short vacation in Maine plays over and over in my mind like a movie reel.
I don’t just replay the sex which was amazing and never-ending when we were in the vicinity of one another, I replay the way he made me hold his hand in public places like he was announcing to anyone around us we were together. How he would kiss my head whenever he left the room for a second like a mark. How he would seek me out whenever he came somewhere I was already at. Hell, I replay the last day we had together when he told me he wanted this to continue, and I told him no. He looked me in my eyes and told me he was falling for me, and I told him I can’t trust a man like him and walked away. I swear my own soul left my body that day and stayed with him, but this new development further shows me I was right to walk away.
“Let it go girl,” I whisper to myself, before I start breathing through my nose as the tell-tale sign of tummy trouble starts. “Not yet, raspberry. Just a few more minutes before I park.” I think this baby is going to be like its dad. Relentless.
Parked, I take a deep breath and once again will the baby to behave, well aware it is pointless, but trying, nonetheless. The elevator ride does not help but there is no way to enter the area without it since it is restricted. My eyes are closed, literally trying to meditate so I won’t let go in this elevator. As soon as I hear the ping I am out running to the restroom.
Ten horrendous minutes later, and officially nothing left to come out, I am weak, dizzy and forced to walk to my office. Before I open the door I know something is not right. There is a scent, a potent fragrance coming from the room that is making my current nausea situation more prevalent. It smells like.. “Roses.” I say finally walking in seeing the entire room covered from floor to desk. “Are you serious?” I ask no one who is in the room.
Going straight toward the card, I pick it up and toss it. I am not going to bother reading it. I have nothing to say to him. Especially now and I want to know nothing about his life. Not that I can get away from it apparently. Still, I can't stop myself from tearing up once again looking at the rainbow roses he had delivered.
“God. Why is he so damned perfect, on paper?” Grabbing one I pick it up and smell before remembering why that is a bad idea. And now I am once again running to the bathroom. The world keeps spinning.
CHAPTER 4
I sent dozens and dozens of roses to her office and still nothing, but I didn’t really expect a response. I’m going to have to show up and prove to her how much I want her and only her.
“Are you listening, Mr. Pike?” Sassy, Bolton’s accountant asks, snapping her fingers in my face. I crack a smile at her, but it doesn’t do anything for her, not that I want it to. She sure lives up to her name when she’s talking to anyone but Bolton. I am sitting in the conference room of Bolton’s plush offices. The room is full of people. Bolton, Sassy, Jaxson, Heidi, Jaxson’s assistant, Marcy and her assistant, Benji not to mention the countless interns taking notes and filing briefs, both press and legal. I hear the hushed conversations of several people on cellphones in the corner of the room and someone is eating potato chips as loudly and as obnoxiously as humanly possible in this small place. I am straight up about to lose my shit.