Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77611 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77611 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
He’s anxious.
“I can do that.” I can be an adult about this. We had sex. It might be over now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy each other’s company. That I can’t be here to help him through his social anxiety. Is that what this is?
Forget about that. Why do you think it’s over?
Because we’re here and it is. I lean the crutches against a corner wall, out of the way, and walk to the stool.
“So what’s going on with you?” I ask as I take a seat. “I thought that conversation with your brother went pretty well. Did something change on the way here?”
He searches under the counter for a few trays, then opens his containers and starts lining up the pastries in front of us. “It went better than I was expecting. Thanks to you.”
“Personally, I think it’s thanks to your whole secret-blackmail-file reveal,” I tell him wryly. “That was very Tanaka of you, Michael. I was impressed.”
And maybe a little turned on.
“That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.” He hands me a tapered plastic bag filled with that crème-whatever-it’s-called and then picks up his own. “You need to hold the piping bag like this, push the metal tip into the pastry and fill each one.”
“So, I’m on filling holes? That feels appropriate.”
He doesn’t take the opening or smile. “This job is for both of us. There are four hundred, remember?”
“For two towers. I haven’t forgotten.”
Not what he told me, and not what he did to me after that. What we did to each other.
“I met the woman once at a cocktail party,” Michael says abruptly.
I squirt a little cream into the air, thankfully missing the tray of flawless pastries, and look up at him in surprise. “What woman are we talking about?”
“From the will.”
“Oh. Oh. Right.” The one he was supposed to marry to get his inheritance. How could I have possibly forgotten that insane tidbit from breakfast?
“She came to my table and introduced herself. She knew who I was and tried to flirt, but she looked nervous. Embarrassed and guilty. I told her I wasn’t interested and went to the bar. But at some point in our brief conversation, someone snapped a picture. I assume Ali used it to prove to my father that I’d already shown an interest in this woman. That marrying her would be just as good for me as it was for them, but because I was shy I would need convincing.”
He doesn’t like being called shy. And that cousin is a real piece of work. “Are we giving your father the benefit of the doubt now?”
“Bellamy is certain that’s what happened. To be fair, he knew him better than I did. He said he had flaws, but he wouldn’t have taken that action if he’d had all the facts.” He pauses and sets down his bag. “It’s important for you to know that I was never with her, Win. That I’d never marry anyone for money, and that if I was with someone, I would never be unfaithful to them. That’s not who I am.”
“I do know that, Michael.” My heart feels like it’s trying to climb up my throat. “I don’t have a single doubt about what kind of man you are. I…appreciate that about you.”
I love that about you.
I can’t think about it right now.
He stares at me for a long moment, waiting for more. When I don’t respond, he looks back to his tray and starts to work again. “Your friend seems to like Veronica.”
My shoulders relax, because I’m perfectly comfortable talking about someone else’s love life. “Oh, he does. This is the first time in years that he’s been into someone who’s into him right back. I have a good feeling about it. I bet they’ll be married by next year.”
And then what? I’ll have an apartment to myself. I don’t really need a roommate to pay my bills anymore. It’ll be tight, but I’ll manage. Living on my own might be an adventure. I can stream musicals twenty-four-seven. I can add people from work to my book club with Bex and make fancy drinks for our meetings without being teased. I’ll have less cleaning to do. It might be great.
Or I could convince Connor and Veronica to buy a home with a garage apartment so they’ll have a future babysitter on call. Maybe move in with Val until he gets over Bex and finds his own someone.
My future is full of so many moderately pathetic possibilities.
“You are a romantic,” he murmurs.
“No, I’m not.” And this subject isn’t working for me either. “Can I ask you something that’s been bugging me?”
He nods.
“Why did you go to work for your father in the first place? And a follow up question, why did you stay when they treated you like crap?”