Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“We are having Italian. I ordered chicken and gnocchi.”
It’s adorable how his eyes light up. As though I’m the center of his universe, even if his mouth won’t admit it.
“You’re eating with me?” He swallows and lets me dry his short hair. He doesn’t need to know how much I enjoy touching him.
I pretend to focus on the towel to avoid looking into his eyes. “I think we should talk. Dinnertime will be perfect for that.”
He eyes me suspiciously, but doesn’t waste any more time, and puts on the clothes I got him. Seeing how they fit, I’m happy to prove to myself that I still have an eye for sizing. It’s nothing too fancy, just a pair of casual pants and a black shirt that’s a little tight around his biceps, but I can’t say that I mind. The dark colors combined with his tattoos make me salivate a little, but I keep that to myself. He can’t know how much that one fuck got under my skin.
“Not afraid I’ll lie through my teeth then climb out of the window first time I get?”
He’s teasing me about it. So he’s either trying to be some mastermind manipulator, or wants to reassure me with the joke that I’m safe.
“I hope you won’t, for your sake. It would have been a waste of all my efforts to keep you alive this long,” I tell him, leading the way to the dining room smelling of that divine, creamy sauce. I quickly choose the chair in front of the unspiked meal and place the napkin in my lap.
Dalton seems a bit startled as he looks around, his gaze lingering on the painting of bones, but then sits opposite me as I light the candle between us. And there it is. The corners of his lips lift in a little smile.
“Okay. Now this is how you should treat your fiancé,” he says and grabs a fork.
I chose this exact dish, because one of the herbs easily masks the aftertaste of the aphrodisiac. I take a sip of white wine as I watch him take that first bite, but as he moans, shutting his eyes in pleasure, tension evaporates from my muscles. It’s nice to see him pleased.
It’ll be even nicer when he stops being a stubborn donkey and gives me another taste of his dick.
“I was improvising,” I tell him softly, and slide the first gnocchi into my mouth.
“It took me by surprise, won’t lie. That bit about me not leaving town, but going to yours was really smart.” Elbows on the table, stuffing his mouth, he watches me with all his attention, and I simmer in it like a frog that doesn’t yet know it’s getting cooked.
I suppose a bit of risk is inevitable, and I’ve been depriving myself for so long that now that I’ve made that rash decision… I can’t go back on it. Of course, people argue and couples split, so I could have informed my family about our parting within the next few months, but… why would I do that when Dalton already knows my family’s secret, when he owes me his life, and when his cock felt so irresistibly good inside me?
I hide my hands under the table when they shake and offer him a smile. “You know what wasn’t smart? Borrowing a million dollars you don’t have. How on earth did that even happen?”
Dalton slouches with a groan, but doesn’t lose his appetite. He’ll soon get hungry for more than some chicken, and I can’t wait to taste him. “Eh… It was a weird night that spun out of control. I just finished work, but had this lucky feeling in my gut, you know?”
I give him a deadpan stare. “No, I don’t know.”
“So anyway, I had a drink or two, and since the lucky feeling persisted, I tried a bit of roulette. Just a taster. And just like that, I was a grand ahead. I was behind on rent, so I thought, you know, why not try a bit more? I moved on to cards. I was always good with those. Kind of. My dad taught me how to play poker. That’s when a grand turned into ten, and I was locked in. Next drink, sweating bullets, betting big, and fucking winning. It was like a long line of coke straight to my dreams. I thought, why couldn’t it be me? People win the lottery. I could win big too. Walk away as a new man with a new life ahead of me.
“I kept playing, the stakes were getting higher, and in my head, I was already moving to a nicer house, getting a new car, all that shit. When I lost, I lost big. It was like my whole body was in shock and couldn’t even understand it. You’d think that okay, you had your big night, you blew it, time to go home and forget it. But… I don’t know, maybe I seemed rich because I bet so big before, but the casino offered me a loan for a few more rounds. And so I made the number one mistake you can. I tried to win back what I lost with borrowed money.