Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Instead, his grip slackens, then disappears. “Who the fuck are you?” Johnnie snaps.
The stranger looks at me for a beat before saying, “I’m her boyfriend.”
Oh my god.
What the hell is this guy doing?
Chapter 2
Dara
Silence fills the void for a beat. Nobody speaks. The Patagonia Cronies back off, putting space between them and my psychotic manager.
Finally, Johnnie finds his voice. “You have a boyfriend?” He gapes at me like it’s a surprise.
As if he’d give a crap either way.
“Yes, I do,” I finally manage to say. If Johnnie weren’t such a selfish piece of trash, he might know that’s actually true—or at least it was until this morning. I glance at the stranger and a spike of pure excitements hits my core at the look he’s giving me. Like he can’t stop staring, and he likes what he’s seeing.
He licks his lips, head tilted to the side.
“I’m Finn,” he says quietly, almost like he’s saying it to me, but he quickly glances at Johnnie. “And you need to fuck off before I decide to make this a bigger deal than it already is.”
“I just—you can’t—I mean—” Johnnie sputters, shaking his head. But he takes another step away. “Dar, you and I will have a chat tomorrow morning about your behavior.”
“Oh, will you please go away, you absolute creep?” I say, finally out of patience. Yep, I’m getting fired.
I should try to smooth this over, but I can’t debase myself in front of his hot stranger. My boyfriend, apparently. Finn. Big, strong, gorgeous Finn.
I’m going to pay for this tomorrow. Drunk or not, Johnnie isn’t going to forget what happened here.
Johnnie shakes his head, rejoins his Patagonia Cronies, and the trio hurries down the block.
I watch them go, hands shaking. The stranger remains by my side, hovering close. Not touching me, but near enough that I’m intensely aware of his presence. I smell something musky and spicy, a heady, subtle cologne.
I feel brutalized. Why the fuck did that just happen? Johnnie’s completely in the wrong—he can’t talk to me that way. I’m his employee, he’s supposed to be my manager, there are rules about this sort of stuff. I barely even stood up for myself.
But I know, deep down, this is going to blow back on me.
It makes me sick. Guys like Johnnie get away with everything, while girls like me end up with empty bank accounts.
“Thanks for that,” I say, glancing at my temporary boyfriend. “Finn, right?”
He nods, frowning at me. “I take it you knew that guy?”
“He’s my manager at work.” I groan, rubbing my face. “I think I might be fucked.”
“Sounds like you need to switch jobs.” He continues staring, not looking away, not ashamed of his gaze. It’s strange and intoxicating. I’ve never been approached by a handsome stranger like this before—then again, I’ve also never been assaulted by a work colleague in public before either, or been dumped, or had all my money stolen. It’s a day for firsts.
“If I know Johnnie, I doubt I’ll have much of a choice.” I curse and look at my phone. Still no reply from my douchebag ex. “Look, I’m having a really, really bad day. I just want to go into that bar, get a drink, and try to forget my problems for a few hours. I really appreciate your help though.”
I’m mentally counting all the cash in my clutch. It’s enough for one, maybe two glasses if they have something cheap-ish. And there’s always my trusty credit card.
“Let me buy you that drink,” Finn says quietly. “Just to make sure that asshole doesn’t come back.”
I hesitate, but the zeroes in my bank account make this decision easy. “Just one,” I say, holding up a finger. “Since you’re my boyfriend and all. But I’ve been aggressively hit on enough for one day.”
His lips pull into a tight smile, the lines around his intensely blue eyes crinkling. It’s a handsome smile, one I suspect he doesn’t use all that often. “It’s my pleasure to take care of you. I do enjoy spoiling my girl.”
“That’d be a first for me,” I say as we walk into Trevi’s together. “My real boyfriend—my ex-boyfriend now—he was the cheapest guy I’ve ever met. Did you know you can rinse out plastic sandwich bags and reuse them at least two more times?”
“Sounds awful.” Finn’s hand finds the small of my back as he steers me through the post-work crowd toward the bar. He walks with confidence, heading straight through the crowd without cringing away from people. It helps that he’s big, one of the biggest guys in the place.
I shiver, enjoying the feeling of his big palm against my body. Lucas never touched me like that. He was strictly anti-PDA. It’s almost sad that this total stranger is touching me more in public than my actual boyfriend ever did.