Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 102394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
“How do you know that?”
“Well, for starters, he told me if I laid a finger on you, he’d chop off my dick and stuff it for his mantel.”
I cringed. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for him. Ever.”
“What if I told my dad we’d never touched? That I’ve fallen for you, and he has to set you free because you won’t even give me a chance while you work for him.”
Wes rubbed the back of his neck. “No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not a good idea. Your father is in the middle of a war, and the last thing he wants to deal with is one of his people falling for his only daughter.”
“But…”
“It’s just not the right time.”
I didn’t like it, but maybe Wes was right. Maybe after whatever was going on was over, my dad would be in a better place—more reasonable. He tended to be more difficult than usual when he was under stress. Which I suppose is why he’d been difficult the last decade because being the head of a crime family was the definition of tension.
“Okay…but when the time is right?”
Wes frowned. “I don’t know when that’ll be, Juliette. I don’t want to promise you something I don’t have control over.”
“But I want more than to be your secret fling.”
Wes seemed to contemplate what I’d said for a minute. “Like what? What is more?”
“I don’t know. Simple things. I want to go out on dates, go to the movies, hold your hand in public. Be a couple, so we can see if this could really work.”
Before he could respond, my cell phone buzzed on the nightstand. Wes and I looked over at the same time.
He frowned. “Why is that putz calling you so early?”
“We’ve discussed that we both like to write first thing in the morning, so he probably assumed I was up.”
It buzzed again, and Wes held my eyes. “I’ll go get coffee and give you a minute.”
When he walked out of the room, I figured I might as well get the call over with.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Jules. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
I sat up, back against the headboard. “No, I was up. What’s going on?”
“I woke up at five feeling like I’d been shot out of a cannon. I must’ve written a dozen pages of notes for the screenplay.”
“Oh. That’s great.”
“Could we get together today? I want to talk about it while it’s all fresh in my head.”
“Ummm…” I looked over at the bedroom door before responding. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“You don’t sound so happy about it. Are you still upset with me for what went down a few weeks ago?”
Wes came back into the room carrying two mugs and sat on the chair next to the bed again. I looked at him while I spoke to Jett. “No, I’m okay.”
“Great. How about twelve at Lazaro’s?”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
Swiping the phone off, I tossed it on the bed next to me, and Wes held out my coffee. “Thank you.”
He sipped his and watched me over the brim. “Hot date?”
“Funny. But Jett does want to get together today, to discuss the book I’m turning into a screenplay.”
“Right.”
My eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
“It means that guy’s a douche, and I don’t trust anything he says.”
I sighed. “I could see why you would think that after what he did. But I don’t believe he’s a bad guy. He just let his last movie’s success go to his head, and he thinks he’s all…” I made air quotes. “Hollywood.”
Wes was quiet for a beat. “What if having lunch to discuss his book is a ruse, and he wants more from you than just to talk business?”
I climbed from the bed, taking the sheet with me, and sat on Wes’s lap. “See? There’s another benefit of getting my dad to let you out of your deal. Then I can tell Jett I’m seeing someone.”
***
Later in the afternoon, I was listening to Jett drone on about the hundredth thing he wanted me to incorporate into the screenplay, but I was only half listening because I was distracted by the man sitting fifteen feet away at the bar. Wes didn’t even try to hide how intently he was watching me, and I couldn’t stop wondering if the jealousy I saw on his face might turn into something explosive when I got home. That thought had my thighs squeezing together. We’d had sex three times since last night, and it hadn’t even begun to quench the thirst I had for the man.
At one point, Jett’s phone rang. It was his agent, so he said he needed to take it.
“I have to go to the bathroom anyway. I’ll give you some privacy.”
The ladies’ room was at the back of the restaurant, down a long hall. Inside, there were two stalls, but the one next to me was empty. Which turned out to be a damn good thing, because when I stepped out, a man was standing there.