Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“I don’t trust him.”
“I didn’t ask you to trust him. I was always the thorn in his side, but now I’m gone, so there’s no reason for you to have issues. He wanted to work with you all along, so you’re the business partner he wanted in the first place. Just put aside your differences and make money.”
He relaxed into the chair and rested his hand on his knee. “It looks like you relaxed…and pulled your head out of your ass. I was just about to ask her to dinner too…” He smirked, like this was just some fun game.
“You want to die, motherfucker?”
“Come on,” he said with a laugh. “I did you a favor.”
“By trying to fuck my wife?”
“By reminding you of all the men who will want to fuck your wife. How long was it before you went over there?”
I ignored his stare and his question.
He smirked. “I bet it was five minutes.”
“New subject.”
“You’re welcome, asshole.” He looked around the parlor. “You got any booze or what? Where are the cigars? Clean air makes me sick.”
Chapter 16
Scarlett
It’d been a few weeks since I’d seen my father.
Axel didn’t mention him. Didn’t try to talk me into calling or texting. It was nice not to think about it, to put it out of my head and just live my life. My father didn’t contact me either…and that was a bit of a surprise.
I walked into the restaurant and found Axel on top of the bar, working on the pendant lights positioned over the surface. He was in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. There was debris on the countertop.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“The contractor put the lights on a switch, when I specifically asked for a dimmer.”
“So…you’re doing what?”
“Switching it to a dimmer.”
“You—you know how to do that?”
He wiped the sweat from his forehead then looked down at me. “Baby, I know how to do a lot more than eat and fuck.” He tightened the screws again then hopped off the counter to test the switches. “There we go.” The lighting turned bright then dark again, on a spectrum of intensity. “What do you think?”
I took a look around, seeing how much we had accomplished in a short amount of time. It was dark and chic, black marble with white streaks, definitely a sexy vibe. “It’s stunning. Had no idea you had such good taste.”
He came to me, that smirk on his face, and then gripped me around the small of my back and pulled me in for a kiss. “Why do you think I picked you?” In the middle of the kiss, he gave my ass a squeeze. “I have damn good taste.” That boyish grin was on his face as he pulled away and looked at me. “You got the menus?”
I was in a sort of daze whenever he kissed me like that, whenever he sprinkled me with affection that made my blood burn my cheeks. All the time we lost during our separation was such a waste, but at least we had what we’d always wanted now. It took me a second to shake it off before I pulled the folder from my purse. I opened the folder and showed him the document on thick cream paper.
He read it over. “Meatball lollipops…those are my favorite.” He continued to read down. “Scallops…ratatouille…I’m starving.” He turned the page and looked over the wine list. “It all looks great. I’d eat all of this.”
“I know, babe.”
He lifted his head from the menu and looked at me, a massive grin on his face.
“What?”
“You called me babe.”
“Oh.” I’d barely called him that since the first time we were together. It might have slipped out sometimes after we got married. But it’d been restrained most of the time, the affection refusing to leave my body.
“I like it when you call me that.” He gave my ass a squeeze and yanked me close, pressing a hard kiss to my mouth as an act of ownership. “Let’s finish up here so we can go home. I want that pussy on my face.” He gave my ass a smack before he walked off and headed into the kitchen.
“What do you think about Alessandra?” He sat across from me at a table in the restaurant, her résumé on the surface between us.
“She seems nice.”
“I don’t care if she’s nice. Her résumé says she has a lot of experience. Worked at a lot of good restaurants in the city.” He pulled the résumé close and glanced at it again. “I think she’d be a great person to hire all the staff and oversee everything leading up to the opening of the restaurant. You don’t want to worry about all those details all the time. I don’t either. I’m a busy man with lots of shit to do.”