Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
I supposed I could send Tate a message and see if he had time to meet up for lunch next week. I knew they had plans for the holiday, first with his parents and then with Kingsley’s aunt and uncle, but they’d mentioned possibly finding the time for a scene or two.
As the timer flashed ten minutes on the display, I lost speed and settled in for a jog. I took the opportunity to chug from my water bottle and wipe sweat off my face. Three ten-minute programs to go, with a few minutes of catching my breath in between.
Hard work was paying off.
First time I set foot in here, shortly after I’d seen Kingsley and Tate naked, I’d barely been able to make it through a twenty-minute jog. Now I’d been coming here almost every day for several weeks, and I’d learned to push myself better. I’d gained a few pounds of muscle and lost a little around the waist. Shedding my clothes around the two men who looked like they’d just walked out of a magazine felt better.
Christ, I hoped I could see them again soon.
I also hoped Jack would miss his flight and stay in New York.
Better yet, he could change his mind and fly north to Vermont. It would make Lily’s day. Probably Samantha’s too. And Lord knew Claire didn’t get to see her son often enough.
Ten years ago, I’d predicted Jack’s future when he’d completed an internship at my company. He’d been fresh out of college and making plans to get his master’s in business.
I’d known back then that he was the type of boy—or man, I should say—who took things over. He walked into an existing business, turned it upside down, found a way to improve everything, and ended up running the place. Never had I met someone who could charm people so easily, who could climb a ladder so quickly, and who could solve a problem so effortlessly.
He’d shadowed me for three months, and to this day, I was using suggestions, systems, and protocols he’d devised as a twenty-two-year-old.
When I’d heard through the family grapevine that he’d landed a coveted position at a New York mergers and acquisitions firm, I hadn’t been surprised in the least. And now, a couple years later, he worked directly under the CEO.
I checked my pulse on my watch, took another gulp of water, then started a new running program.
I would just have to get through to tonight, and then I could return to my aimless wandering through life.
The music flooded my senses as I sped up, and I did my best to push Jack out of my mind.
I had no reason to dislike him. I wasn’t sure I actually did. He merely…rattled me. My company had always been my safe space. A place where I was in charge. I’d built it from the ground up. Its success had given me my confidence. Then that young punk unsettled me with every visit. And for some reason, he wanted to stop by the office each time he was in town. Coming over for dinner wasn’t enough. He wanted to see the office, the conference rooms, the employees.
I clenched my jaw, my lungs burning with each breath.
He bothered me. That was it. It bothered me to have someone fifteen years younger than me come into my space, the business I ran, and walk around as if he owned it. Especially when it was a boy I’d once seen in diapers.
What bothered me even more was my own reaction to him.
When he spoke, I automatically tuned out the world and listened.
When he stared at me, I couldn’t look away.
When he cracked one of his charismatic smirks…?
I gnashed my teeth and cranked up the speed on the treadmill.
“Flip the camera—let me see in the mirror,” Tate said.
I eyed the corner of the screen and pressed the right button, flipping the camera. The display suddenly showed a full picture of what I was wearing.
“You make Hugo Boss look next-level hot.” His voice was warm with approval, which eased a pinch of my nerves. “You’ve got this, Franklin. You have nothing to be nervous about. It’s your nephew, not the devil.”
I swallowed uncomfortably and adjusted my tie. “They may very well be the same individual.”
He chuckled and threw himself onto the couch—next to Kingsley, I noticed. They were dressed for an evening at home. Apparently they’d been hungover earlier today.
Kingsley leaned closer and smiled faintly. “Hey, pet. Lookin’ sharp.”
Heat bled onto my cheeks. “Thank you, Handler.”
They absolutely loved that I was forty-seven years old and still blushed like a schoolboy. They certainly took advantage of the trait often enough. Kingsley said he got off on the contrasts of a man who looked like he owned the world but submitted like a cock-hungry whore.
I was that cock-hungry whore.