Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“I have an idea…if you want to hear it.”
“Okay,” she said quietly.
“You tell your father the truth. That we’re together and you believe me.”
She looked away.
“He can’t touch me because you’ll know he’s the one responsible if he does. The last thing he’ll do is risk losing you.”
She remained quiet.
“I can’t think of another way, baby.”
After a long pause, she spoke. “If I tell him, then I’ll risk everything I’ve worked for.”
“I know.”
“He might accept it…but he might dismiss me from my position.”
“I know.”
She gave a heavy sigh, her eyes on the wall next to the tub, her thoughts buried deep inside. “I would have to admit I lied to him. That I snuck around. He would probably question my character and my ability to judge the character of others…since he thinks you’re guilty and I disagree. One conversation could impact the rest of my life.”
She didn’t need to give her answer because it was already clear.
“I’ll think about it.”
The disappointment that clouded my chest was suddenly blown away in the breeze. My eyes narrowed on her face in disbelief. She’d pushed me away for so long, made it clear her career was the most important thing to her, but now she’d changed her tune…for me.
“Let’s see where it goes,” she said quietly. “And if we get to that level, I’ll talk to him.”
I stared at her in silence, still unable to believe the sacrifice she was willing to make.
After a moment, her eyes found mine again.
I stared at her hard, knowing she’d just shown me her hand. She hadn’t played games with me, but she’d never shown the depth of her feelings either. But now, she basically told me that this relationship meant as much to her as it did to me, that neither one of us wanted it to end, probably ever. “Baby, get over here.”
A smile complemented her slightly embarrassed look before she crossed the tub and came to my side.
My arms circled her under the water, and I brought her close to me, her face moving to my shoulder, half of her hair submerged in the water. My lips brushed her hairline, and I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
I skipped the flutes of champagne being passed around and headed straight to the bar for the good shit. I ordered an old-fashioned and took a drink the moment it was in my grasp, dreading the rest of the evening.
I might have a nice smile and seem charming, but truth be told, I hated these social events. Enough time had passed since my prison stint that most people had forgotten about it, so it was easy to chat. But also, most of the people high up in the hierarchy were guilty of shit far worse than what I’d been convicted for.
I was harmless by comparison.
But I also dreaded spending the evening with Scarlett.
I’d have to sit there and act like she meant nothing to me. Have to act like she’d wounded my pride when she dumped me. Had to somehow be passive-aggressive without being too passive-aggressive. It was a production that I didn’t have the energy for.
A woman came up to me at the bar. I hadn’t noticed her approach because my thoughts had been on Scarlett and her father. She was pretty, with long blond hair, wearing a beautiful dress. She struck up a conversation with me, and normally, I would just excuse myself and walk away, but since I was putting on an act, I let it be.
I noticed when Scarlett entered the party, even though she was clear on the other side of the room and I was engaged in a conversation, because she was that fine. She wore a black dress with the straps hanging off her arms. It was skintight and reached the floor, her killer heels making her ass even plumper.
I forced myself to look away and pretend to care about the blonde.
But fuck, I was exhausted. I was exhausted by all this bullshit. I had a woman I wanted to kiss right in the middle of that crowded room, but I couldn’t do shit about it. I had to stand there and pretend to care about a woman whose name I couldn’t remember, even though she’d just told me what it was.
Dante and Scarlett mingled at the party, taking the champagne flutes and sipping them like they weren’t horse piss. Despite the fact that Dante never touched his daughter, I could see why anyone would assume they were together—because he was bleeding-money-out-of-his-eyes rich, and she was the most beautiful woman at the party.
Our eyes met across the room.
The electricity crossed thirty feet, traveling from her eyes to mine and then back again. It was just a heartbeat, but an entire moment passed between us, our time spent in the bathtub the other night, waking up in the morning to a beautiful breakfast that we could never finish, her legs wrapped around my head when I woke her up that morning. I felt it all—and so did she.