Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 70510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
I hugged him against me, feeling that strong heartbeat right against my chest. “I love you.”
He breathed a sigh, like he expected my reaction to be different, for us to have a long conversation about what happened, about his sorrow. He pressed another kiss to my forehead. “I love you too.”
I sat down with the pancakes in front of me, and I immediately dumped the syrup on top. “I love casinos. You can have a breakfast buffet at any time of day. No questions asked. No judgments.”
He had pancakes too, along with some hash browns and eggs. He watched me drown my pancakes in syrup, the smitten smile on his face. “You’ve got a point, baby.”
Baby. I’d missed hearing him say that.
Missed it every day we were apart.
I sliced my fork into the food and took bite after bite, starving because we weren’t having our first meal until two in the afternoon.
He ate his food then sipped his coffee, looking at me most of the time.
We ate in comfortable familiarity, like the last three weeks hadn’t been spent in silence.
It was nice. As if nothing had changed.
He didn’t ask about Mason.
I wasn’t even sure what had happened to Mason. Atlas and I started going at it, and…he kinda just disappeared.
Maybe he’d finally given up.
Atlas slid his fork into his pancakes, his eyes on his food. “You still want to move in with me?”
A smile spread across my lips because my place had stopped feeling like home the second he’d asked initially. My heart had been in his penthouse the entire time, hoping that some skank hadn’t set foot in my home while I’d been away. “Yes.”
“Cool.”
“Cool?” I asked in disbelief.
He chuckled. “What do you want me to say? Awesome?”
“Anything is better than cool.”
We ate again, a long stretch of silence between us.
“How did you know I was here?”
“Your dad.”
“I guess that means he talked your ear off about everything…”
He looked down at his food as he continued to eat, quiet and contemplative. “He kinda…got pissed off.”
“At you?” I asked incredulously. “His golden boy? His prodigy—”
“MapQuest. Yes.”
I chuckled, remembering the nickname fondly.
“Yeah, he lost it a little bit.”
“I can’t believe he did that. He seemed fine when I told him what happened.”
“Well, he must have had a change of heart.”
“So, you’re here because my dad threatened you?” It was my senior prom all over again, when my dad basically said he’d cut off the guy’s hands if they moved anywhere other than my hips.
“No. He later apologized.”
“He didn’t…kick your ass or anything?”
He laughed as he looked up from his food. “Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. Told me that I was making the biggest mistake of my life, that you just want to help me…and I took it the wrong way. The truth is, I’ve been really miserable, so…it wasn’t going to last.”
“Yeah…I’ve been miserable too.”
He set down his fork and looked at me for a while, his eyes turning serious, mirroring my pain. “You’re sure about this?”
I gave a slight shake of my head. “Atlas—”
“Last chance.”
I just stared at him, as if the question were ridiculous.
“We adopt. That’s it.”
I was fine with the adoption, but I was disappointed he wouldn’t even try to find the answer to his problem. It wouldn’t just help him, but other people who had the same issue. But I’d just gotten him back and I wasn’t going to gamble my chips again, so I let it go. “Then we adopt.”
With his arm around my waist, we walked to the sectioned-off part of the casino where the second night of the tournament would take place. Winners of other matches would play tonight, going for an even bigger pot. “This is hot. I feel like I’m dating a celebrity.”
“No celebrity. Just a tough bitch.”
He chuckled as he gave my ass a squeeze.
He could grab my ass in public all he wanted. I didn’t care.
We made it to the table, the other opponents already there.
“Good luck, baby.” He hugged me close and kissed me.
“Thanks.” I said goodbye then took my seat.
Once the match began, it was all seriousness. Atlas stood across from me so he could look at me, and sometimes we would share glances as I waited for other players to make their moves. Around and around, we went, and I kept count in my head as we played.
But then I would look up and see my man staring at me.
I didn’t even want to play.
Just wanted to go home and be happy.
Cards were put down. Chips were added to the pot. Around and around, it went.
I must have lost count somewhere because when I put my cards down, the guy across from me beat me. Three pairs. I only had two.
The pot was his.
I took a drink then looked at Atlas.
He still smiled at me, like whether I won or lost, he didn’t care.