Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 111278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
“That sounds awful and exhausting,” he said.
“It really is . . . was,” she mused.
“So, you’re a lawyer, but you don’t work there anymore?”
“Hmm. Yes, I am. And no, I don’t. You tend to get fired when you tell your boss he’s a misogynistic, sexist asshole who can suck your tits.”
He started coughing, having just taken a sip of beer. It was her turn to pat his back.
“Hey, can I get some water?” she asked Noah.
He nodded and got them a bottle. She opened it and handed it to Dominic, who gave her a strange look but took the bottle.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, Shortcake. I’m fine. You just caught me by surprise.” He took a few sips of water. “Thanks for opening the bottle for me.”
“You’re welcome. Sorry. I should have let you swallow first before I said anything.”
“Swallow? Ah, yep.”
He still looked a bit off to her.
“Now, should I run off on you after leaving a hundred-dollar tip?” he asked dryly.
She flushed. “Sorry. I really am. That wasn’t very good of me, but I was . . . embarrassed.”
“We all have embarrassing shit happen, Gwen. Doesn’t mean we run and hide. No one was laughing at you last night, and if they had, I’d have taken care of them.”
She blinked at him in surprise. “Are you always so protective of strange women that you take out for dinner?”
“I’m a pretty protective guy,” he allowed. “However, you tend to bring out a deeper protective need in me.”
“I do? That’s surprising.” She couldn’t understand why.
“You have no idea why, do you?”
“Um. Should I?”
He eyed her curiously. “You’re used to doing everything for yourself, aren’t you?”
“Well, yes. Is that wrong?”
“Not wrong at all, Shortcake, if it’s what makes you happy. If being surrounded by people who would stab you in the back is what you enjoy, then more power to you.”
She breathed out a sigh. “There are people who like that. They like the underhanded plays—the drama. I thought I could rise above it at the law firm I worked at. I had big ideas about what I would do with my life. But nothing has lived up to my expectations. I always had to fight so hard for everything. Maybe twice as hard because I don’t have a fiddlestick.”
“Fiddlestick?” he asked in a strangled voice.
“Sorry. It makes me smile to call, um, a dick something silly. I needed reasons to smile in my old job.”
“Sounds like it made you miserable.”
“Sure did. I worked ridiculously long hours just to try and get ahead. And then those bastards gave my promotion to someone else.”
“That must have been hard.” He reached over and carefully uncurled her hands. She hadn’t been aware she had curled them into tight fists.
“Yeah, well, that was obviously my point of no return because I told my boss what I thought of him and then found myself out on my ass. Now, I’m forty-five years old, unemployed, and I’m pretty sure I’m blackballed from all the big firms in Manhattan. I know my friend would hire me, but . . . I’d feel like a pity hire.”
And the truth was, she wasn’t certain what she wanted to do with her life anymore.
“But that’s enough pity talk. I should be happy he would hire me. And that I have enough savings in my bank account that I won’t have to worry about it for a while. Although . . . it won’t last forever.”
And she was a bit old to change careers.
“You lived on your own in New York?” he asked.
She became all too aware that he’d kept hold of one of her hands and that he was brushing his thumb over the sensitive inner skin of her wrist.
Yikes. Gwen could feel that running through her body.
“Um, yes. I haven’t had a boyfriend in a long time. My last boyfriend came home one night and told me that he no longer loved me and was moving out.”
“Ouch. What a jerk.”
She shrugged. “I don’t even remember if I tried to get him to stay. I didn’t really feel anything. Even when he started yelling at me that it was my fault. That I worked too much and didn’t pay him enough attention. He wasn’t wrong.”
Dominic frowned. “Did he try to talk to you first before leaving? Ask to help you change?”
“No. Why would he?”
He leaned in. “Because if you were mine, Little girl. I wouldn’t let you go without a hell of a fight.”
10
Dominic leaned back and waited for the fireworks to start.
Funny, he’d never thought he would go for someone with sass and fire. Who he’d enjoy baiting.
He most definitely would fight for Gwen. He wanted to track down the asshole who’d rejected her and teach him a lesson about how to treat the woman that he should have cherished and cared for.