Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
I sat there for a moment, just thinking about how lucky I was to have him as my father. Eventually, I started my car and drove over to the coffee shop.
Half an hour later, I was walking into the office. I stopped by to speak to Garrett but was surprised to find that he wasn’t in his office. I didn’t think too much about it. There were times when he didn’t come in at all—for days on end, and he had every right to do so. It was his office and his work. I was merely there to take up the slack.
Thinking he’d eventually show up, I continued on to my office and got busy on the edits on the coffee shop images. I spent hours on them, and I was feeling pretty good about the new changes I’d made. I was eager to show him what I’d done, so I sent the file over and called out to him, “Hey, Garrett!”
When he didn’t respond, I shouted again, “Garrett!”
Nothing.
I’d been so enthralled in my work that I hadn’t noticed that he’d never made it into the office. I opened my email, checking to see if I’d gotten anything from him, and quickly spotted one that had been sent earlier that morning. I opened it and quickly discovered that Garrett had flown off to the Caribbean to do a big photoshoot. He made absolutely no mention of needing me or wishing I could’ve come with him.
Instead, he requested that I keep the office going while he was gone. I won’t deny that I was a little disappointed about missing out on a chance to see the Caribbean, but I hoped, in time, I would get an opportunity to show off my talents at a tropical resort.
I’d already done my work for the day, so I tried to busy myself with old emails and online shopping. When closing time rolled around, I did a quick cleanup of the place, then turned out all the lights and headed home. It was a quiet day but a productive one, and I was feeling pretty good about things.
And when I got home and found that my deadbolt was no longer sticking, I felt even better. Wrath had given me the impression that he wasn’t looking to get involved with me, but when he did things like this, it made me wonder if that was truly how he felt. It was definitely hard to tell with him. He wasn’t exactly quick to express his emotions—unless he was angry. That was something we both had in common, so I knew firsthand that him getting that silly lock fixed meant something.
I just had no idea how he’d managed to get it done, so I decided to use it as an excuse to reach out to him. I didn’t know where he was, so I decided to send him a text:
Me:
Hey- did you come by and fix my lock?
Wrath:
No
But I did call the super.
Me:
Thank you.
I don’t know what you said, but he finally fixed it.
Wrath:
Good.
Wrath was never a big talker, and clearly, he was even worse when it came to texting. I felt like I was pulling teeth, so I left it at that and went to change out of my work clothes. Once I was done, I headed into the kitchen to fix myself a bite to eat. I’d just opened the fridge when I heard my phone chime with another text. I walked over and checked the screen, and to my surprise, Wrath had messaged me again.
Wrath:
Chinese or Mexican
Me:
What?
Wrath:
It’s a simple question.
Me:
Mexican
Wrath:
Good choice
Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at my door, and when I opened it, I found Wrath standing there with two big bags of takeout. “What’s all this?”
“Dinner.” He carried the bags over to the kitchen table and started pulling out the various containers of food. “I hope you’re hungry.”
“Good heavens.” I stepped over to get a better look. “What all did you get?”
“A little of everything.”
“Seriously?”
“I wasn’t sure what you liked.”
“Well, look at you being all sweet.”
“Anything but sweet, babe.”
“Says the man who just bought out the Mexican restaurant.” While he grabbed the plates, I got our drinks from the fridge, and we carried them over to the table. “I didn’t know you were planning to come by tonight.”
“I didn’t either.”
“Well, I’m glad you did.”
We both sat down and made ourselves a plate. I was tickled that he was there, but I tried to act unfazed by his presence as I started eating. It wasn’t easy. He looked so hot sitting there in his cut, his black long-sleeve t-shirt, and worn jeans. I was so tempted to lead him to the bedroom and have another round of wild, passionate sex with him.
But I finally had a chance to really spend time with him, and I was going to take it. “I went by to see Hadley the other day.”