Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I go in for the hug because I’ll never turn one down.
“How much?” I ask, keeping my gaze pinned to Gina’s face.
She’s doing everything she possibly can to avoid glancing in my direction. I wouldn’t call the mission successful since I catch her eyes darting toward me every five seconds.
“Ten bucks,” Bella states proudly. “I had to spend thirty to do it, but who’s counting?”
“The casino,” Gina remarks dryly. “They’re making a mint every minute.”
“They are,” I agree, even though I know she was talking to her sister.
Bella steps back to look me over. “You’re dressed to the nines. Are you going to the club with Gina?”
Gina lets out a barely audible sigh. “He’s not.”
“I am.” I nod, unsure of what club Gina’s heading to, but I’m all for tagging along.
“He’s not,” Gina repeats, shaking her head.
“You two are adorable,” Bella drawls. “You sound like Barrett and me when we first met. I know you’ve known each other forever, but my instinct tells me something is happening between…”
“No!” Gina yells the word loud enough to draw glances from the people seated at the slot machines near us. “Your instinct is wrong. There is absolutely nothing going on between the two of us.”
“Calm down.” Bella laughs. “What’s that saying about me thinking that the lady is protesting too much?”
“You’re quoting Shakespeare wrong.” Gina taps her sister’s shoulder. “Besides, I’m not protesting. I’m pointing out the truth.”
“Sure.” Bella looks unconvinced. “I thought I didn’t want Barrett until I realized I really wanted him, so don’t protest so much, lady.”
I listen intently, wondering if Bella is sensing something about her sister’s feelings that I’m oblivious to. If I had to rate how much Gina wants me on a scale of one to ten, I’d land at a negative fifteen.
Looking back, I think it was a full-on ten the day she showed up at my apartment when I was twenty-five. At the time, I assumed she was there to talk to Dominick. It wasn’t until the next day I realized he had told her he’d be hiking with his cousin upstate that weekend.
Gina showed up to see me. If I had clued in, I would have asked the woman I was with to leave so I could focus on Gina, but I missed that chance.
Gina glances over her shoulder. “I’m meeting someone, so I have to go.”
“At Veil West?” Bella asks the question that I’m curious about.
Veil West is one of the clubs inside this resort. A client of mine owns it, so it was already on my list of places to be tonight. If Gina plans to spend the evening there, I’ll buy her a shot or two to repay her for last night.
“I need to go.” Gina sidesteps answering it with ease. “Don’t dig too deep of a hole for yourself, Bella. You won, so it’s time to stop.”
I catch Gina’s eye for a second and use that time to flash her a smile.
She glares at me before she turns and walks away, leaving me to stare at her perfect ass as she does.
“You like her, don’t you?”
I glance briefly at Bella’s face to find hope in her eyes. Not sure how to answer that question, I change the subject. “Are you interested in joining me at a poker table?”
“I’m interested in whether you like my sister that way.” She stresses the last two words and adds a perk of her eyebrows for good measure, so there’s no mistaking the hidden meaning in that question.
“That way?” I repeat, using the same tone as she did.
She tilts her head. “Gina carries a cloak of indifference around with her because she’s been burned a thousand times, but inside is this sweet, wounded heart. She needs someone like you to show her not all men are rotten to the core.”
I’m struck by her words, but not because her sister needs me to show her a thing. Gina is fearless. In my eyes, that cloak is her strength. If she’s holding her heart tight, it’s because she’s wise enough to know it’s not worthy of the losers who have undervalued her.
“Your sister is a remarkable woman,” I tell Bella.
She reaches up to tug on the lapels of my suit jacket. “You’re a remarkable man, and together you’d made seriously beautiful babies.”
Laughing, I grab her hands to cup them in mine. “Speaking of beautiful babies. Do you have any new pictures of Luisa to show me?”
My request accomplishes exactly what I intended it would. It sends Bella on a new mission, and it’s one that doesn’t involve setting her sister and me up. While she digs in her purse for her phone, I look back to where Gina was, only to find her disappearing around a corner with a dark-haired guy by her side.
CHAPTER NINE
Daniel
I don’t know how the hell I just lost almost two grand to Bella Adler, but while it was happening, she had a sweet smile on her face.