Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
I take the call. “Ned,” I greet.
“What the fuck is this fucking shit you’re fucking doing to me?”
“Once a New York fuck-mouth, always a New York fuck-mouth,” I say.
“I’ll fuck-mouth you, Nick Rogers.” He pauses. “No. No, I won’t. Fuck you for even tricking me into saying that. I got you out of Blue Textiles. They were tanking.”
“I had two hundred in them. How badly did they tank?”
“I got you out before you lost your original investment and fifty more.”
“I was up a hundred and fifty.”
“Fucking call me back when I call. In case you’ve forgotten, I shouldn’t have pulled you without your approval. Bottom line. I got you out fifty up, man. And I have a deal now that will make up your loss and then some. This is a two-hundred-k buy-in, and it’s hot. I need you in now, and the money will be big and fast.” He gives me the pitch, and it sounds worth the risk.
“Do it,” I say, and when I would hang up, I hesitate. “And,” I say, an idea hitting me. “Do a separate buy-in of sixty thousand dollars, under the name of Faith Winter. Whatever you need on Faith, Rita can get you tomorrow.”
“That’s one hell of a gift.”
“Do it without comment,” I say, ending the call.
And now, I feel good about taking Faith’s money.
It’s two hours later by the time I’ve finished my prep for tomorrow’s meeting, and I’m just about to call Faith and see if she wants me to pick up dinner when I hear footsteps in what I’d thought was the empty office. A few seconds later, Faith appears in my doorway, the sight of her setting my blood to pumping, and not because her black jeans and light blue T-shirt accent every one of her many curves. It’s simply because she’s here. She’s Faith. And she rocks my world.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I say.
“Hey,” she replies, leaning against the doorframe and looking a bit tentative. “Rita helped me get past security.”
“Remind me to give her a raise tomorrow.”
She pushes off the door, shuts it, and then leans against it. “So, I’m not interrupting?”
“Come here,” I order softly.
She gives me one of her seductive looks that tells me she’s feeling out of control, which means sex is her weapon, her way of getting it back. That’s going to be a problem, because in this, I’m not giving it away. She walks toward me, the sway of her hips a seductive, sweet dance, and I don’t remember a woman ever making me this hard and hot this easily, but Faith does. She rounds my desk, and I roll my chair just enough to allow her between me and the desk, my hands settling at her hips.
Her hands go to my hands, her perfect backside resting on my desk. A fact that I’m certain I will think about many times in the future. “I like you in this office, behind this desk.”
“Do you?”
“You’re Tiger here. Powerful. Confident. Sexy.”
I don’t let her take me to the fuck zone. Not yet. “I’m always Nick to you, Faith. You know that.”
She inhales, her mood shifting, softening, a tentative quality to her voice as she asks, “Did you get my note?”
“I got your note and the check. And I still don’t want your money.”
“You promised to take it.”
“As you pointed out in the note. And I did promise; therefore, I will take the money. But we are at that place in our relationship where there is more ahead of us, not less. I won’t try to define what that is right now, in this moment, but it’s a hell of a lot more than how badly I want to be inside you right now.”
“You want to be inside me right now?”
“I always want to be inside you, Faith. You know that, too. And you know that gives you control. You have a lot of control, but I need you to let me be who I am. And who I am is the man who wants to take care of you. I want to handle the bank. And I damn sure want to buy you the outfit you need for court.”
“I bought something today.”
“Faith—”
“You paid my bills at the winery today, Nick. I just couldn’t let you do more today.”
“I’m not Macom, Faith.”
“Stop saying his name.” Her hands come down on my shoulders. “I am not thinking about him. Nothing about you feels like him. Nothing about us feels like what I was with him.”
“Then let me be me.”
“Then you have to let me be me, too. It will take me time to lean on you, Nick. Because it’s not natural to me.”
“Because when you leaned on Macom, he abused that trust.”
“Now who is making him a part of our relationship? But if you’re going to go there, I always on some level felt alone with Macom. So. I’ve always been alone.”