Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
I rolled my eyes, aggravation burning my chest. What the hell was he doing? Was this another one of his games to get me back? I had enough going on in my life right now, I didn’t need this complication as well.
I flipped back to the messages app and forced myself to take a deep breath to calm down before texting.
James: Did we get back together while I was sleeping?
Richard: Can I call?
I sighed. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with Richard right now.
James: Now’s not the best time.
Richard: It’s about my dad.
Fuck. I pushed the button to call him.
“Babe, don’t hang up,” he said the moment he picked up. We hadn’t spoken in long while, and I was surprised how instantly familiar and sweet his voice sounded. It made my chest ache in a similar way to how I imagined Sawyer felt when going through old family pictures.
Some of the tension left my shoulders. “How are you?” I couldn’t resist asking. I cared about him still, and I always would.
He paused, as if surprised I’d ask. “I’m okay. I miss you like crazy, but that’s hardly news. Listen… I don’t really know what’s going on, but Dad said something at the club earlier about pulling his business from the firm. I asked why and he said you’re not getting the job done on this Cape Cod deal.”
I felt the tension headache from before tightening around my temples. “I talked to him less than an hour ago about that. It’s taken care of.”
Richard hesitated. “It wasn’t just that, James. He also made the usual claims of being disappointed that we’re not still together…” He trailed off, clearly leaving an opening he hoped I’d dive into.
I didn’t take the bait. “We’re not getting back together, Richard,” I told him, trying to keep my voice as gentle as possible.
“Oh, I know,” he said a little too quickly. “And I told Dad that, but he wouldn’t leave it alone. I think he might be looking for an excuse to take his business elsewhere, and I know how important of a client he is, so I thought if I made it look like we were back together, it might at least stall him a bit and give you more time to do whatever it is you’re doing.”
I ran a hand down my face. Richard’s heart was in the right place, but lying to Dick Sr. was never a good idea. The man was too smart to fall for much bullshit, especially his son’s. He didn’t give Richard very much credit in the first place, so he always seemed to be looking for ways that Richard was letting him down. I thought it was probably one of the reasons I always tried so hard to impress Dick Sr. Maybe if he thought Richard kept company with good people, he’d see his own son as good by association. I knew it was silly, but parental relationships were fucked-up in the first place. I was no exception.
“Thank you, but you really don’t need to do that. I have everything under control.”
He hesitated, then cleared his throat. “Well, you should also know that I kind of told him that you’d be at the Museum Foundation Gala on Tuesday night. As my date.”
“Richard—” I started, exasperated, but he cut me off.
“Look, I saw the guest list and there are a shit ton of his real estate buddies going to this thing. I figured if you were there as my date it would get you an in with them and you could use the opportunity to make inroads so you’d have a few more potential clients in case Dad got all pissy and walked.”
I hated to admit it, but it actually wasn’t a terrible idea. I’d learned early in my career that the business world ran on who you knew, and the more people you knew, the more opportunities that led to. Still, I hated the idea of perpetuating the lie that Richard and I were back together.
“If I go with you, this doesn’t mean we’re getting back together,” I told him.
“You won’t even let me try to seduce you just a little?”
I couldn’t help but smile. Richard liked to play at wanting to get back together, but we both knew the truth: we were never truly suited for each other. At this point it was more a game to him than anything else.
“Not going to happen.”
“What if I take you out to Bramo’s ahead of time? You know how peckish I am on an empty stomach, and the last thing you want to do is take me to a gala with an open bar when I’ve had nothing to eat.”
He had a point. I didn’t need to risk Richard getting tipsy at the gala; there was no telling what he would do. “Fine,” I ground out.