Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
I heard enough to grow concerned, especially given the memory of the swindle that cost one of my foster parents everything. Instinct made me turn on my phone to record the conversation. And when whispers about embezzlement in Alexander Investments started to come out, I took the recording to the police.
Unfortunately, due to New York law, the tape couldn’t stand on its own. It merely proved to the DA that my story was true… which is why they subpoenaed me to testify. I literally had to sit in the hot seat, knowing every word I said was helping to put my former boss in prison.
“Mia? Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Amber asks.
I blow out a long breath. “The guy I work for? He’s drop-dead gorgeous and… he kissed me.” And I kissed him back, and I haven’t stopped daydreaming about it since.
“Whoa,” Amber says, shock in her gaze. “Is this a good thing? Or a bad thing?”
“That’s what I’m trying to decide.”
“Mia!” the barista calls out, letting us know our coffee is ready.
“Be right back.” I rise and pick up our cups, sitting back down in my seat across from my friend. “Here you go.” I slide Amber’s cup across the table and take a sip of her latte. “Ooh, it’s hot.”
“Okay, let’s figure this out. Did you like the kiss?” she asks bluntly, as is her way.
My cheeks flush. “Umm, yes. It was the hottest kiss of my life.”
“So it’s the employer issue?” Amber asks knowingly.
I wrap my hand around the cup. “In part.” And that’s what I’ve been struggling so hard with. If I get past the fact that I work for him, there are deeper issues I don’t want to think about.
Amber takes a sip of her mocha-flavored coffee. “This is me you’re talking to. What’s going on?”
I swallow hard. “He’s the whole package. A sexy man, a good-hearted guy who adores his child… and his daughter is great, too.”
Amber leans closer. “This is all good! It’s not like you’re telling me he’s a player who hits on every woman he meets. So—”
“So I can’t afford to fall for him! He admitted he’s done the family thing for the last time. He was burned. Badly. But from my perspective, he has, he is everything I’ve ever wanted in my life.” I rub my hands on my jeans, hating having to admit these things out loud. “So how foolish would I be to sleep with the man I work for? And possibly fall hard, knowing ahead of time that we want drastically opposite things out of life? Then I’d have to get over him while working in his home. I know that’s not wise,” I say, voicing my greatest fears.
Amber twirls her brown hair around one finger as she listens thoughtfully. “What if you didn’t have to get over him? What if you fell for him, and he fell just as hard for you?” my optimistic friend asks.
No, that isn’t in the cards. “Life hasn’t typically given me the family I wanted,” I murmur. “And he’s already made it clear he isn’t doing the commitment thing again.”
“Then go into it for the sex. If that kiss is anything to go by, you’re in for some spectacular orgasms.”
“Be quiet.” I crumple my napkin into a ball and throw it at my friend, my face on fire from the direction of our conversation.
“Just giving you your options,” Amber says unrepentantly.
“Let’s just say you’ve given me a lot to think about, and leave it at that.”
Amber shrugs. “Go for the orgasms. That’s all I’m saying.”
I roll my eyes. “You just had to have the last word, didn’t you?”
Amber grins over her coffee cup and laughs.
We spend a few more minutes talking about Amber’s life and live-in boyfriend, her job as a guidance counselor for junior high school kids, and life in general before heading to hail a cab so I can take the train back to Austin’s house.
* * *
Austin
I pace my family room at midnight on Friday night. I long since dropped Bailey off at my parents’ place farther upstate and, at my mother’s coaxing, stayed for dinner. It wasn’t like I had other plans, and I didn’t want to be home in the quiet house by myself. You’d think I’d enjoy the break from my usual routine with Bailey, and I did, but I knew if I was alone, my thoughts would turn to Mia. As they do now.
What is she doing at bars in Manhattan? How many guys tried to pick her up? Is she safe, wandering Grand Central Station at night, and alone on the train ride home? I don’t need to tell myself I am obsessed. I am.
Maybe I should have gone out with the guys and Ava, my friends from work, but then I’d have had to ask my parents to drive here to get Bailey, and I didn’t want to put them out. Which leaves me home, nursing a cold beer and wondering what Mia meant when she said she wouldn’t be out late. Because in my book, after midnight is late.