Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 55093 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55093 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“As a matter of fact, but that’s not the point. What if you’d thought I’d sold you out? You didn’t think that did you?” I was pleased with myself at the fact that I could give her an honest answer. “Nope, never crossed my mind. You’re more straightforward than that.” I took the everything bagel slathered with chive cream cheese that she passed me and hopped up on a stool at the marble island.
“Good, shows you have some sense. Now, how to deal with that viper. You know she did it to embarrass you, but how did she know about your dad?” I shrugged my shoulders, as I had no idea. “I didn’t even know about his business dealings, but, I did know about the other.” I looked at her ashamed. I never wanted anyone to know that my dad had taken his own life, didn’t want to live under that stigma the rest of my life.
Simone came around to my side and put her arms around me. “There’s nothing for you to be ashamed of. Whatever your dad did was his own doing. You knew him better than I, but from what I saw, he loved you and your mom. Maybe he lost his way a little, and thought he had to do all those things to keep his family in the lifestyle they’re accustomed to, who knows. But whatever his reasons, he’s not here now, and you’re not to answer for what he did.”
“Sounds good, but we both know that’s not how this works. We’ve both been witness to many a life being destroyed for much less.”
“This will die down by end of day and they’ll be onto something else you watch. This fucking town!” She shook her head and climbed up on the stool next to mine.
“I might have a job offer.” I thought the news would lighten the mood, but I forgot her penchant for prying into shit. By the end I’d told her all about Jason’s visit the night before. She already knew about our past dealings with each other, about me going to his office to confront him. She didn’t say a word as I relayed the previous night’s happenings, but instead looked very thoughtful She got that look in her eye and that’s where my angst went into high gear.
She saw things that I hadn’t, what she calls reading between the lines. She found the fact that he’d rushed over here the night before very telling, and by the time she followed me upstairs so I could get ready for today, she had us married off with three kids living on the beach.
All the way here I’d gone back and forth with the pros and cons of accepting his offer, and her words niggling at the edges of my mind did not help. Now this. If being his personal assistant when I thought it meant making reservations and other minor things gave me the vapors, what he was asking was enough to send me into full-blown panic.
“Are you nuts? Who pays someone that kind of money just to sit across the table from them?” He was playing with me. Maybe he too had had second thoughts about his offer and was looking for a way out. That doesn’t make sense he accepted the payment I quoted. Well shit, I guess there’s no way of getting out of it now.
“That’s just the way I do business Emily. I need a service done, if you charge a certain price for that service who am I to complain? Besides, you’ll earn every penny.”
“For over thirty thousand dollars a month exactly what would you be expecting?”
“Get your mind out of the gutter pet, I don’t pay to fuck.”
10
Jason
If her eyes got any bigger they’d pop out of her head. “ I would say excuse my language but I’m sure you’ve heard and said worse.” She seemed lost for words, but being the sensible girl she is I’m sure she’d see the benefit of accepting my offer. I held my tongue, giving her the time she needed to come to terms with it and was more than ready to force her into seeing things my way if I had to.
One of the things I’d realized in the middle of the night is that there doesn’t seem to be much I wouldn’t do to get her into my bed, and yes, that means anything, fair or foul. “I hope you know that for this to work, you’ll have to cut all ties with any man you might be seeing at the moment.” This might be a deal breaker for her, but it was the one thing I meant to destroy. Jealousy is new to me, but it’s a very powerful emotion, that once acknowledged cannot be ignored.
Looking through those pictures of her and her friends the other night, I’d felt the first twinges whenever she was pictured with a man no matter how young or old. But seeing her so vulnerable last night, in her nightclothes no less, that beast had popped his fucking chain. Was it written somewhere that if an older man set his sights on a younger woman he had to lose all his damn sense and revert back to the high school drama phase? She’s twisting me in knots and I haven’t even kissed her yet.