Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“Tonight,” she says, wrapping her arms around me, all her sweet, tempting curves pressed close to me, “I want to try the mac n cheese.” And when her lips part in a pretty red smile to match her dress—a genuine smile after all she has been through, and just because we’re together—all I can say is yes. Tonight, she’s getting her macaroni and cheese.
I slide an arm around her waist and fold her tighter into me. “We have company, though.”
She eases back and gives me a furrowed-brow look. “Please tell me it’s not your father.”
“Like that would ever happen. No, baby. The press is everywhere.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good, right? We’ll be printed everywhere tomorrow, and the board will see it before the vote. I kind of love how easy that happened.” She dips her brows all intense and orders, “Now take me to dinner. I’ve been trapped in this damn house all day, and I hear the plan is for me to repeat that the next two days. But word of warning—someone is taking me to the gym tomorrow to pay for tonight’s meal. I talked to Candace. She said I could go over to her place. They have a full gym.”
“You and Candace are getting along well.”
“We are,” she says, a pleased lift to her voice. “She’s the first friend I’ve had in a long time. Since college, when I got picked for the top thirty under thirty and my friend Kristie did not. She hated me for that. I knew that meant she wasn’t a real friend, and I don’t know—her, my parents—it started feeling like we’re all on an island by ourselves, pretending to be otherwise.”
But she was never alone. I always was one phone call away, yearning to be closer. The problem is, she had no idea.
My mind flashes back to the night she’d walked into the party and how she’d rocked my world. I’d watched her shine, even as I’d known her well enough to know she felt she was mud in a crystal blue swimming pool, dirtying things up. That night, I knew I couldn’t let her walk away. I knew I would never let her walk away. It had been the first night I’d touched her—really touched her. The first night I’d considered she could be mine, but my father had figured it out, had his snitches talking, and he’d sent me away the next day.
I’d been too young to fight back.
I’d decided it was for the best.
God, she’d been beautiful that night, as beautiful as a diamond glistening in a perfect light, and as far as I’m concerned, every light is the perfect light for Alana.
Regret fills me, and Alana’s hand settles on my face, dragging me back to the present. “Where’d you go? Come back to me.”
“I was thinking about that night, the party to celebrate the list.”
“It was a good night until the next morning.”
“When I left,” I supply, but then I chuckle. “Or tried. You handed me my ass.”
“You deserved it. You made me feel—”
“I was just trying to take care of you. And I thought maybe getting that gambling debt off your father would actually be the end of that trouble.”
“I know, Damion. Believe me, I know. Every time I paid off his debt, I thought it was the end of it.”
“Have you talked to your mother?”
“Not at all. I asked Walker to tell me if he goes to her house or calls her, but so far, she’s left him messages and he doesn’t return the calls. He’s either done with her or being cautious because of the press.”
“Maybe both, and that’s for the best.”
“I heard the Russians are helping, but not much more about the details.”
“I just got the rundown myself. Blake wouldn’t talk about it until we were in person. The Russians are going to start a blackmail campaign for the company’s money. We hope his out will be that he’s no longer in charge, and they need to talk to me.”
She crinkles her cute little nose. “Wait. Will they really come after you?”
“No. Walker has it under control. I don’t know how, but I trust Blake.”
“Me too,” she says with a nod. “Me too. Anything from Caleb?”
“Radio silence,” I say, reaching for the door. “Let’s talk over dinner.”
She catches my arm and tilts a concerned look my direction. “I have this weird feeling something bad is about to happen.”
The calm before the storm, I think again, but I don’t say that. “We’ve waited a long time for a happy ending, baby. I think it’s pretty normal to feel a sense of apprehension. Let’s go enjoy a night out together.”
“While taunting your father?”
I step into her and capture her slender waist. “We can stay in. You will get no complaint from me on that point. You. Me. A pizza and no one else.”