Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
“When you realize what I’m telling you is true, have your brother call me. I’ll find a position for him in my company.” An angry look. “Since you want nothing to do with the company I built for my sons to take over, he can have your portion.”
Livingston shrugged as he gestured to the door. He knew better than to respond because they would just end up in another fight. And he wanted the bastard gone.
But, true to form, the old man took his time in getting up, straightening the sleeves on his suit, then walking to the door like this was his place of business, not his son’s. When Livingston opened the door to get him out of there, he realized he’d moved too slowly.
Daisy, the woman he was fast becoming obsessed with, walked off the elevator. But his vision proved to him this was not the woman he’d left in her suite that morning. His suite. This was the woman who’d come into his office for their meeting. Professional, not rumpled. Business suit, dark blue with pops of yellow this time, and again, heels that made him want to sink to his knees and worship her.
Her face was a mask of unreadability. Her briefcase was clasped in her right hand and in her left, nothing, but his eyes were drawn to the same rings he’d seen during their first meeting. Rose gold, open, stackable knuckle rings. Subtle in a way most women couldn’t pull off, but it was still eye-catching.
“Mr. Rhodes,” she said, her tone smooth and low. “I apologize for the interruption, but you had wanted an update.”
His father looked down his nose at her. “Who are you?”
The icy disdain and arrogance his old man had never been without slid from his tongue like a viper. The man simply didn’t understand the world wasn’t his to command, regardless of how he imagined it should be.
Stepping forward to intervene, Livingston paused when Daisy shifted her gaze from him to his old man, her expression not changing one iota.
“My business is with Mr. Rhodes, not you.” Just like that, she dismissed him.
Livingston wanted to cheer, but held his glee in check at the sour grapes his father had just smelled. His old man wasn’t used to being ignored. The bastard was used to having the attention of everyone when he was in a room. It was how he ruled his boardroom.
“Should I wait, or come back later?” Daisy directed the query at him.
“Doesn’t look like your usual fare, son. And we both know I’m Mr. Rhodes.”
He wasn’t about to let Daisy get the brunt of his father’s wrath. Again, the tiny sprite before him was full of surprises.
She lifted her head and met his father’s arctic gaze without hesitation, her face a cool mask of indifference. “Do you always assume you should be the center of attention? We both know you are not the owner of this casino, and since I had no idea you would be here, there is absolutely no reason that I would have been looking for you.”
“Why don’t you take your dark ass back down to the kitchen where you belong?” his father growled at her.
“Old man,” he warned, stepping between them, one hand reaching for Daisy with the intent of shifting her until the old bastard couldn’t see her any longer. “I’ll have your ass tossed out of here if you disrespect her again.”
“We don’t mix with the help, son. We fuck them, we’ve sold them, but we don’t mix.”
“Get. Out.”
“Why is she here?”
Livingston glared. “Get the fuck out of my casino. Monica, call security, he’s leaving.”
Within five minutes, his father walked into the elevator between two guards. Livingston tried to take a calming breath. It didn’t work. He went back to his office, took several jagged breaths and braced his hands on the cold glass.
“Shall I come back later?”
There it was. That smooth husk of a voice which immediately yanked his thoughts from anything but finding out more about the woman who wielded it like it didn’t slay him every fucking time she spoke.
“Stay.”
Moments of silence before he turned to find her sitting primly at the edge of one chair, ankles crossed and her back ramrod straight.
“My old man is an ass.”
Barely a blink. “I’m not here to discuss your familial issues.” She picked up her briefcase and opened it.
“I’m trying to ap…make amends for his behavior.”
She paused in pulling out a folder as she glanced at him. “Then say ‘I’m sorry’ and move on. I don’t need an apology, nor did I require one. Do you think your father is the first man in the world to make assumptions about me and my purpose on this planet?”
Christ, he wanted to beat anyone who had made her feel subpar. What the fuck is going on with me?