Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
“That’s not what I’m saying, at all. I’m not in the habit of saying things I don’t mean, and I don’t think you did this. I do think it prudent you take your face out of the limelight for a while.”
Bradford’s expression grew pinched, full of tension, as he shoved his hands through his dark-brown hair. His eyes, normally a soft dove gray, were steely and harsh. Anger burned in them, alive and hungry.
“Fuck you, Livingston. Just because I don’t want to run a casino doesn’t mean I’m a fuckup.”
Damn it! That’s not what he’d meant, not at all. “Fuckup? No. Impetuous? Yes. And moody as fuck. I’m on your side, Bradford.” He rested his hands on the desktop.
“Funny-ass way of showing it.” Hands up in front of him, Bradford moved back to the door. “You want me gone, fine. I’ll be so far gone you can’t find me.” He whipped around and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.
“Fuck!” Livingston banged a fist on the thick desk, wincing at the sting of pain that radiated up his arm.
That wasn’t how he’d wanted it to go. He was trying to protect his brother. Did he need it? No, but hell, Livingston had been doing it for both brothers as long as he could remember. Getting between their father and them to take the blows. It was instinctive for him, like breathing.
He could use a vacation.
That shit ain’t happening.
His casino, The Empire, flourished here in NOLA, however he was in the process of getting a riverboat one ready as well. This shit with his brother being implicated in embezzlement had put a huge dent in those plans.
And he wasn’t a patient man, didn’t like delays. But he could use a vacation. Of course, not being a man who indulged in them, they weren’t common. He had had one three months ago, but that had been more of a delay in travel.
His lips twitched as he remembered the night he’d spent with a woman in the bar of a hotel before heading up to his room with her. She hadn’t known him from Adam, hadn’t been interested in anything but sex. Livingston had been all for it.
Waking alone had frustrated him, for he’d wanted to start all over and redo their night together. But it hadn’t been meant to be. She had been gone and all he’d had were the memories.
If he had someone like that around, he may be less inclined to work the long hours he did.
Gareth had just laughed at him when he’d told his friend about his one-night stand. Reminding him that’s how he and Red had met, he’d said to stay positive, she could come back into his life.
He doubted it. He wasn’t sure why a woman he’d met in Seattle would run into him in New Orleans. He wasn’t in the dating scene, and after seeing what had happened to some of the men who traveled in his circles when they did go in that pool, he wasn’t ready to get in.
Sure, there were always going to be people who wanted him for what he could do for them. He was a fucking billionaire. But deep down, in the parts he wouldn’t publicly acknowledge, he wanted something like Gareth had. A woman at his side who loved him for him, not his money. Someone who would have his back no matter what.
The circles he ran in didn’t generate that kind of person. Not that he’d met anyway.
His computer dinged and he stole another look at the television, shaking his head at the ticker stating how much worse the storm was going to get. Losing power in summer was one thing, but during winter with snow and the cold… He was glad he wasn’t there. This Winter Storm Ellis wasn’t going to be anything to ignore. He turned away. They had winter storms, he had hurricanes. Everyone had something.
Opening the email from Gareth, he scanned the information he’d sent over on Daisy Wentz. Whistling at what he read, he immediately picked up his phone and reached out to get her to come here so she could untangle all the threads and thorns that had wrapped around his business.
* * * *
Daisy Wentz flattened her lips as she stared up at the door leading to her next appointment. The Empire. One of the most popular casinos in New Orleans, or so the rumor went. Men and women, both casually dressed and those wearing their finest, moved in and out of the doors like they were in Vegas.
Hell, for some this was as close as they were going to get. Personally, she had no use for a casino—the odds always favored the house and she wasn’t on board with tossing away her hard-earned money. On the other hand, she didn’t condemn them.