Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
“They care about who is influencing and evaluating you, and no one had a better offering than I did.”
We pause at a streetlight, and I study his handsome sculpted profile, a pinch of female appreciation in me in many ways. “I’m very excited about the opportunity,” I say. “I’m not sure I told you that.”
He smiles down at me, one of his ridiculously charming smiles, and settles his arm around my shoulder. “I’m glad you’re finally letting yourself get excited, baby. It’s going to be an amazing experience.”
Baby.
He’s started calling me that, and I find it thrilling and kind of scary. He uses it like we’re a couple, and we are—I don’t know what we are or are not. We’re almost to the store when his cellphone rings and he answers with, “No is still my answer.”
I blanch at the shocking abruptness, and he guides me to the side of the store and halts. “I get it, Grant,” Ethan says after listening for a minute. “You believe this is smart. I do not.”
Feeling awkward and nosey, I fold my arms in front of myself and look the other way, trying not to hear. Whoever Grant is must be talking, because Ethan is silent until he laughs a bitter laugh and says, “All right then. You want me to fuck right off. That’s a mature way to negotiate a business solution.”
There is a brief silence before Ethan slides his phone in his pocket and steps in front of me. “My half-brother,” he says. “And he hung up on me.”
“Yikes. I’m sorry.”
“It’s part of being in this family. He wants. My father gives it to him despite the consequences unless I have the leverage to step in and provide common sense to the equation. In this case, I do have the leverage.” But even as he says the words, his gaze lifts skyward, and his hands settle on his hips.
“But it’s hard when it’s your family,” I assume.
“It’s the story of my life,” he says. “And every time I’m in the city, my brother starts having a competition with me that I don’t want any part of. He always creates some grand plan to rule the world. In this case, he wants to buy a whiskey operation that’s about ten feet underground.”
“And you’re halting it?”
“If I have to go to the board to shut it down, I will.”
“Who is it?”
“Downtown Liquid.”
“I know that name. They’re big.”
“The bigger the operation, the bigger the potential debt, and they have it. My brother would argue we’re growing overnight. I’d argue it’s the catalyst to destruction. Either way, enough of my brother’s bullshit inserting itself into the night.”
But I sense it’s not over at all. It’s on his mind. It’s bothering him. I push off the wall and wrap my arms around him. “Do what you need to do. If you need to make a call or handle this, I’m just fine. I had chocolate cake and an orgasm.”
His eyes light. “I thought the orgasm would come first.”
“It’s not the same when there’s no condom to finish the job,” I dare, and I swear my cheeks warm with the words I’ve managed to effortlessly express.
“Well then,” he says, his voice lower now. “Let’s get the condoms and go back to the room and finish the job.”
“Yes,” I agree. “Get the condoms, but then you make the calls I know you need to make. I’ll satisfy myself by reading my contracts and eating cake until you’re done.”
He studies me with this intense, unreadable stare and then cups my head and pulls my mouth a breath from his. “Like I said. Salt floating on an ocean wind.” He kisses me and adds, “I’ll be right back.”
Thirty minutes later, I’m sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee, my chocolate cake, and the contracts. I’m making notes to ask the attorney about while Ethan sits on the patio, talking on the phone, his MacBook open in front of me. He lost his mother, like I did, but he’s not close to his family at all, and I realize now that when I look into his eyes, behind the intelligence and arrogance is something far more complicated and dark. He’s been cut not just once, and not just by the loss of his mother. There’s more, so much more, and I find myself almost desperate to understand him.
When he finally returns to the living room, there’s no power play or games this time. He pulls me to my feet and undresses me, and he lets me help undress him. And it’s me that rolls the condom onto the hard length of his erection. We’re standing in front of the couch, naked together, and it’s the most intimate moment I’ve shared with Ethan. He sits on the couch and pulls me to his lap, entering me and easing me down the length of him.