Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Yes, please.
When the waiter came by, I dropped my card on the table. “Let’s split it.”
“Great.” The guy took the card without complaint, happy he didn’t have to pay for my dinner.
Then we sat in silence and waited for the tab to return.
I walked in the door and immediately tossed my clutch on the entryway table.
Axel was sitting on the couch, in nothing but his sweatpants as he watched the game on the TV, his upper body bulging with strength. The guy I’d just gone out with was scrawny in comparison. If he tried to pick up a tire, he’d get crushed by it. “How’d it go?”
I slipped off my heels then threw them across the room and into my bedroom. “Not doing that again.” I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of wine from the top of the fridge. I uncorked it and poured myself a glass.
“That bad, huh?”
I walked into the room as I took a big drink.
“Was there not wine at dinner?”
“None that I wanted to drink.” I sat on the other couch, blaming him for my uncomfortable night.
“Come on, baby. Don’t be like that.”
I pulled my knees to my chest and opened the food delivery app on my phone. “I’m ordering a pizza. You want anything?”
“Didn’t you just eat?”
My eyes flashed in his direction.
He raised both of his hands in surrender. “Damn, this was a bad date.”
I ordered a pizza then set my phone aside. “He asked for the check the second the food came. We didn’t even eat.”
“Why didn’t you take it to go?”
“Because I ordered a salad.”
“Why did you order a salad?”
“Axel.”
A grin moved over his lips. “Sorry. It’s done now, alright?”
I looked at the TV, even though I didn’t give a shit about sports.
“You must have been a bad date, though.”
“He told me his dad is a cop, so I told him mine is a drug dealer.”
He burst into a short laugh. “Oh, baby.”
“I didn’t like him.”
“What did he do?”
I shrugged. “He’s not you.”
He watched me, his smile slipping away as his eyes softened.
“I used to go on dates all the time. Used to be excited to get dressed up and see where it went. But now it felt like a chore. Getting to know someone new every couple of weeks…seems like a lot of effort.”
He continued to watch me. “Now you know why I don’t do dates.”
“You only do fuck buddies.”
“Yep.”
“And that’s what I am to you?” I asked, trying to keep the sting out of my voice. “A long-term fuck buddy?”
He smirked. “You know that’s not true.”
“Then what am I to you?” I repeated.
“Come on, baby.”
“Why won’t you answer the question?”
“Because once I do, it’ll have a label, and then it’ll get complicated…and you didn’t want complicated, right?”
My father would never like Axel. Would never accept him as a suitable choice. And then he would judge my character for jeopardizing work for good dick.
“But if I had to put a label on it…” He sat with his forearms resting on his thighs, massaging his big knuckles with his large fingers. “I’d say you’re my lady.”
I hadn’t been convinced that my father was spying on either one of us. He wouldn’t invade my privacy and break the trust we had between us. But after the weekend passed and I showed up for work, he was in a much better mood than he’d been in for a long time.
And my date had just happened on Saturday.
“Hey, sweetheart.” He kissed me on the cheek before he sat across from me. It was the middle of the day, so he asked if I wanted to have lunch with him in his dining room. Most of the time, he worked through his lunch or went out to meet associates, but his docket seemed to be open today.
“Hey.”
His butler immediately brought our salads, lightly mixed with tarragon sauce to moisten the leaves. It had cherry tomatoes, grapefruit, and grilled prawns on top. A basket of freshly baked bread was served with it.
My father never ate much when he was around me, always sticking to a healthy diet to keep a trim waistline. I knew he started every morning with a good workout in his private gym, running a couple miles before he lifted weights. His dedication showed. He looked ten years younger than he was, so it was understandable when people assumed we were dating rather than father and daughter.
“How are you?” he asked after he finished his bite.
“Fine. Nothing too interesting going on in my life…” Except sleeping with a man who had served two years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit…and worked with my father on a daily basis.
“Are you seeing anyone?”
I didn’t want to believe Axel was right, that my father would do something heinous like that, but the question made me suspicious. “Why do you ask?”