Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
I raised an eyebrow at her boldness, but she didn’t seem to mind that I wasn’t quite responding to her. She kept her eyes on me as her pink shiny lips curved up in a smile. Her lips didn’t really interest me.
‘Are you here with someone?’ she asked into my ear, her hand gripping my tie again.
I pulled away from her and smoothed out my tie, gently tugging it out of her hands. ‘Yes, I’m with my friend.’
‘Too bad.’ She pouted a little, but let me walk around her. ‘Find me if you want another friend. I wouldn’t mind joining you.’
I watched her leave with a frown on my face. I didn’t remember the last time I’d been to a club, but it was probably before I’d gotten married. In college maybe? I wasn’t too into it back then and I didn’t like it any better now.
I studied the dancing crowd and let my eyes wander over the tables. Couldn’t see Charlie anywhere. I took out my phone and tried her again. No luck.
Sighing, I turned to my left and, just like that, she was right there. At the other end of the bar, talking to someone. Smiling. It took a me a moment to take her in with her red lips and black dress. Her brown hair took me another moment to get over. It was falling in big waves below her shoulders. It was a little messy, as if she had just gotten out of bed and didn’t have time to do much but mess it even more. It was a contrast to how careful and professional she was at work. She still wore it loose and in waves, but not like this. Not like she had just had sex.
Did she have sex?
I found myself rushing to her side, and while it had looked like she was smiling and chatting with someone from afar, as I got closer to her I could tell she was a little uncomfortable and stressed. I have no idea when I’d started to read her tells, but even with the way she was smiling without showing her teeth, or the way her eyes weren’t smiling back, or the way she was… I stopped thinking about how she looked when she was standing in front of me, talking to me, and just focused on getting to her.
Just as I was getting closer, the guy she was talking to nodded and left her side. She looked up at the ceiling and, rubbing the bridge of her nose, muttered something to herself before taking a step forward. Then she looked around as if she was searching for somebody, her gaze stopped on me and her eyes widened.
‘William?’
I couldn’t hear her, but I watched as her lips formed my name, then I strolled to her side.
Her eyes got bigger the closer I got, and she shouted, ‘What… what are you doing here?’
I put my hand lightly on her arm and leaned down so I wouldn’t have to shout back. ‘Gayle asked if I could…’
She groaned and gripped my wrist before I could finish my sentence.
‘Okay. Gayle sent you. Great.’ Leaning forward, she rested her forehead on my chest then, letting go of my wrist, gripped the edge of my suit jacket instead. ‘I’m just gonna breathe for a second then I’ll tell you what’s going on.’
At first I was surprised and didn’t know what to do, mostly because I had no idea what was happening, but I stupidly assumed that she had lost the client and was panicking. So I found myself running my hand up and down her arm to make her relax. She took another deep breath, let go of her grip on my jacket, then looked up at me without taking a step back. Putting her hand on my shoulder, she leaned up to speak to my ear while the music changed and slowed, affecting the mood in the club. It looked like things were taking a different turn.
‘Kimberly’s client. Celebrity,’ Charlie explained. ‘They have a PR thing, but no one told me what. Last week they asked me to babysit him because Kimberly is out of town. She returns tomorrow and has a meeting with the guy, but she was supposed to take him out for dinner and keep an eye on him. The manager asked her to do that. Her schedule changed so they asked me. I did take him to dinner, but he brought us here after instead of going to his hotel. I had no idea until he parked his car in the parking lot. Hell, I still had no idea when I stepped in here.’
I sighed and shook my head to myself. This family, I thought.
She pulled back and met my gaze, probably expecting me to say something, but I was too struck by the feeling of her small and delicate hand on my shoulder and the way her chest was practically pressed against mine. I swallowed and tried to focus on her face, but her red lips kept catching my attention. Why did she wear red lipstick to babysit? And there was the hair too. The way it was framing her face, making her eyes appear bigger with the makeup. Her heels were sexy as hell, and now she was closer in height to me, it’d be so easy for me to kiss her. And her smell, the softness against me. She was…