Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 169305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 847(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 847(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
“And if he wanted you more than pleasing his mother?” Ari looped her arm around my elbow. “What would you have done?”
We stopped at a crosswalk, Dallas and Frankie now joining us. I swallowed hard. I’d been avoiding asking myself this question for a while now.
Finally, I said, “If I allow myself to hope, I’ll allow myself to break. And I have never had the privilege to do that.”
A limo rolled in front of us, double-parking and stopping at our feet. The driver slid out and opened the door for us.
I slipped in, knowing I hadn’t told Ari the entire truth.
Because a part of me had already cracked.
And every day that passed, Zach pried the fissure open even more.
The Sun manor resembled a gingerbread house in my tipsy state.
Snow swirled together on the windowsills like thick frosting. I swayed back and forth in Dallas’ heels, flinching when the limo door slammed shut behind me.
The silly plastic tiara toppled off my head. I crouched to pick it up, stumbling back when Natalie stormed out before I could touch it, clutching manila files to her chest.
“Oh.” Her lips curved down. “You’re back.”
As always, she seemed impeccably put-together and freakishly unhappy.
I returned the tiara to my head, tossing the duffel bag Dallas gifted me over my shoulder. “You sound disappointed.”
Natalie had given me shit since my first shift. Usually, I let it roll off my shoulders, even when she accidentally and habitually spilled her drinks for me to clean.
“I am disappointed.” She pivoted, following me back into the house. “Before you came along, we were getting to know each other.”
I dropped the duffel at the stairs, heading to the kitchen for a glass of water, only half-listening to her.
She shadowed me, uncomfortably close to my heels. “We were forming something until you confused him with your… your…”
She sucked in a breath, giving me a once-over, trying to figure out what Zach saw in me.
Whoa. Déjà vu.
“Did Constance raise you, too?” I kicked my heels off in the hall, brain a bit fuzzy, but vaguely remembering Zach loathed shoes in the house.
Natalie ignored me, stomping her feet at the kitchen’s entrance, gesturing up and down my body. “I don’t even know what he sees.”
I snatched a tall glass from the dishwasher and filled it with tap water, bringing the rim to my lips. “Very mature.”
“You need to get lost. He’s engaged. She will never let him keep you around.”
Ha.
If only Natalie knew that neither I nor Zach planned on seeing much of each other after the next few weeks. Not that it mattered much to Eileen.
She’d been the one to request a clause that allowed extramarital dating, just in case she ever got over her aversion to people.
“Thanks for the advice, Natalie, but Zach doesn’t like randos here after hours.” I wiggled my fingers her way. “Toodles.”
“Wait… You don’t actually think he’s into you, do you?”
No.
Yes.
Maybe a little.
I knew his body liked me. And that his mind enjoyed my company. But I also knew the same could be said about sex toys.
I didn’t answer her question, dumping the leftover water and soaping up the glass.
“You know you’re just a toy for him.” She observed me with a crescent smile, trying to gauge if her poisonous arrow hit anything vital. “I see you guys sneaking around the house. You’re just his plaything. Eileen’s the real deal.”
I kept my expression neutral, rinsing off the suds, telling myself what I always told myself whenever Reggie informed me that she needed to bleach her eyes after looking at me.
Hatred isn’t about what you lack. It’s about someone finding something they want in you and realizing they can’t take it.
“Still don’t believe me?” She hissed out a laugh. “Look at him with you, then look at him with Eileen. That’s all the answer you need.”
I set the glass down in the sink with too much force. It cracked, a tiny shard tunneling its way into my palm.
I was bleeding.
Inside and out.
Why, Fae? Why? It’s just an arrangement.
But it wasn’t.
And it was time I admitted it.
I kept my hand in the sink so Natalie couldn’t see it. Forever an injured animal fighting to save face.
I feigned a smile, the buzz wearing off. “Is that all?”
“Maybe check the dining room.” Natalie hitched a shoulder up, dissatisfied I didn’t burst into tears. “It’ll wipe that smug look off your face.”
Idid not, in fact, check the dining room.
First, I checked Zach’s office, taking the stairs two at a time, itching to end the magical night with him.
The doors swung against the stoppers as I burst into the room. He’d installed them there a few weeks ago, after the first time he’d witnessed me rattle the shelves bracketing the doorframe.
I ambled into the room, barefoot, checking left and right, stopping to stroke a Go stone.