Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 97921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“You always run when we try to tell you the truth. Listen, you have the entire family ready to support you in this. Bella will have all the love she needs.”
“But no mother.”
“If Bethany cares anything for her, she’ll still be there.”
I grow silent. This is my fear. My wife is there for our daughter now because she has to be. They live under the same roof. If we divorce, I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that Bethany will be gone with the wind and Bella will be long forgotten. It has never been a question about whether I’ll take custody.
“Just think about it, Dante,” Gio says when I’m silent a beat too long.
“I will,” I reply.
“No, you won’t.” He gives a dry laugh that lets me know he’s frustrated.
I’m as frustrated as everyone else. I’m starting to feel caged in. If it weren’t for Bella, I would have been divorced by now. It’s bad enough Bethany refused to have a baby until she turned thirty.
“All the signs were there,” I mutter to myself as I hang up the phone and toss it on the desk. “But the question is, what do you do now?”
I growl at myself and my lack of answers. Bella comes first, she will always come first.
Lizzy
“Lizzy, can you email those dates for the fair and charity event?” Michelle, one of the other assistants, asks, snapping me out of my fog.
I’ve been sitting at my desk in a daze. Dante wants to have lunch with me. Of course, I know it’s nothing like the type of lunch I wish it could be. The man has no idea I’ve been crushing on him since I was hired.
I don’t even know what I would say to him if we had lunch together. To be honest, I didn’t take much offense from his wife’s behavior. She’s always been a bitch to me.
I once thought we could be friends. I’m a part of her husband’s work life. I do more for their family than my own.
Her being a snob ruined that. She has always made me feel as if I’m beneath her. I may work for the Di Lorenzo’s but I’m no stranger to wealth. I’ve never wanted for anything. I took this job as a favor to a friend. I have a certain set of skills Gio homed in on and wanted to acquire.
My phone rings on the desk, bringing me out of my reverie. I jump but rush to pick it up.
“Those dates,” Michelle says as I put the receiver to my ear.
I nod at her before I speak into the phone. “This is Lizzy speaking. You’ve reached Mr. Dante Di Lorenzo’s office.”
“Hey, you. What have you done to my brother?”
I sigh in relief. “Nothing. He asked me to lunch, and I told him I had plans with you.”
“Well, now you’re having lunch with us both.”
I look down at my clothes and groan. I may never have a romantic relationship with Dante, but that doesn’t mean I want to sit across from him looking like this. I look like a goth kindergarten teacher.
There’s nothing about my outfit that says twenty-nine and trendy like some of the others in the office. I look frumpy and twice my age. My sister would be so disappointed in me.
“Fuck,” I whisper.
“Chill out. Dante doesn’t bite. I think it’s nice he wants to do this. We all know how grumpy he can be.”
“He’s not grumpy. He has a lot on his plate.”
“Yeah, if that’s what you want to call it. His ass is grumpy as fuck, and I’ll call him on it any day of the week.”
“Well, I like my job, so I’ll keep my opinions to myself. Speaking of jobs. Where are you?”
“He can’t fire you, remember and I’m getting out of the car now. I’ll see you in a bit.”
We hang up and I fall back in my seat as I think of what my life would have been like if I had more confidence in myself. My major in college was picked out of self-doubt, my living situation is one birthed from lack of confidence. I’ve been coming out of my shell with my gaming channel, but my love life still sucks.
When guys see me, they think nerd. When they find out I’m a gamer, it’s like twice the turnoff. Why do guys assume female gamers are only into boring sex or don’t have a sexual bone in their bodies?
I’d fuck the right guy’s brains out. Like, I’d be a whole ho for my man. I like toys, playing dress-up, and I’ve been curious about a few different kinds of sexual play. Not to mention, for a woman my size, I’ve mastered some of the harder, more challenging yoga poses when it comes to flexibility and balance.