Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 155903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Fuck.
What was he thinking? It wasn’t up to him to make her happy. What did he care, beyond whether she did her job?
Except he did.
It didn’t take long for Elizabeth to gather her sons, both of whom had chocolate smeared around their lips.
Just like Faith did.
When they were gone, Reuben turned to her. “You carry chocolate and coloring pens in your handbag?”
“Everyone has emergency chocolate,” she said as she gathered everything up and stood. “It makes everything better. And coloring pens come in handy when there are children. You should have a basket of toys in here.”
“I rarely have children in here.”
Her shoulders slumped.
“But perhaps you’re right. You can take the card and buy some toys tomorrow.”
“Really?”
Damn. There was that same smile. The one he always wanted to see on her face. And over buying some toys?
Either she really liked spending his money.
Or she really liked toys.
He glanced around. This place could use a bit more life. He’d noticed that vases of flowers had started to appear. Not something he’d usually let slide, but he’d decided to ignore them for the time being.
“Is Elizabeth all right? I know you can’t tell me what’s going on, but she’s okay?” she asked. “Because she seemed sad.”
“Actually, I can tell you some of it. I defended her husband last year. He’s a big guy. He was out with some friends at a bar. Some guys started annoying him, looking for a fight. He didn’t reciprocate until one of them went after a friend of his. Unfortunately, when he punched the guy out who attacked his friend, the other man fell and hit his head. He suffered a brain injury.”
Her hand went to her mouth. “That’s terrible.”
“The district attorney threw everything he could at him. I took the case and got his sentence down as much as possible. Still, she’s having a hard time of it now. Two young boys and trying to make ends meet by herself.”
“Poor Elizabeth.”
“And now her landlord is seeking to evict her on some trumped-up shit.”
“And you’re going to help her.”
“Yep.”
“What will you do?” she asked.
He smiled. “I’m going to ruin his fucking life.”
9
I’m going to ruin his fucking life.
Faith didn’t know why those words still lingered in her head a week after he’d stated them.
But they did. And every time she heard them . . . well, she couldn’t help but like the grouchy man a bit more.
Especially when she’d learned that he was helping Elizabeth for free.
Yeah.
She was starting to realize that Reuben did have a nice side to him. It was just hidden under the Prince of Darkness’s exterior.
The more comfortable she was around him, the less mistakes she made.
She still made them. Just less of them.
Too bad the rest of her life was in shambles. Eric was making it very clear that he wished she didn’t exist. She was trying to save money to move out while still sending cash home.
It wasn’t easy and she’d had to cut back as much as possible. Right now, she was living on crackers, peanut butter, and bread. Things she could keep in a mouse-proof container in the basement so she didn’t have to go upstairs.
If it wasn’t for Reuben buying her lunch most days, she wouldn’t have any variety in her diet.
It was starting to wear on her, but she had to keep going forward.
The elevator doors opened, and she grimaced as Kirsten walked in. She strode toward the door to Reuben’s office, not even looking at Faith.
Was she just going to walk in?
Oh, Faith so didn’t think so! She jumped up and got in between the door and Kirsten.
The other woman stopped and looked down at her. “Get out of my way. I need to speak to Reuben. He’ll want to see me.”
“Reuben is busy.”
“That’s Mr. Jones to you,” Kirsten snapped.
What the heck?
What a rude . . . bitch.
Yeah, she said it! Well, thought it.
“Get out of my way,” the other woman added.
“No,” she said firmly. “He’s busy, and you don’t have an appointment.”
“I don’t need an appointment,” the other woman drawled. “See, Reuben and I have a special relationship. You know what I’m saying?”
“Ew. Gross.” She couldn’t imagine ever touching this woman.
“Now listen, you dumpy, plain, chubby little country mouse. I get you might think you can catch his eye, but he’s far too good for the likes of you. He doesn’t need a chuck steak when he can have filet mignon.”
“Actually, there are a lot of nice things you can do with chuck steak. I have some recipes if you want them. Some of them go very nicely with creamed corn. Or corn on the cob. Or even corn hash.”
“I don’t want your stupid recipes. What I want is for you to get your ugly ass away from that door!”
Kirsten reached out and grabbed her wrist hard, tugging her away from the door.