Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry, do we know each other?” I edged, hoping he’d say yes.
His body somewhat relaxed into his seat, and he shook his head. “No, well, not actually. You own Mano’s restaurant, right?”
He caught himself.
I glanced over to Holly, who was watching the whole situation unfold. Then, I turned back to MJ. “Yeah, I do. We recently opened a few months ago. It’s been going well.”
“Oh, sweetheart, isn’t that right around the corner from your place?” Lisa asked Holly. “Is that how you two met?”
“No, actually. We had a meet-ugly,” I joked.
Lisa raised an eyebrow. “A meet-ugly?”
“Yeah. It’s like a meet-cute but the complete opposite. We live in the same apartment building, and one day Holly walked in with her head shoved deep in a book and ran into me, spilling the box of liquor in my grip.”
“He means he ran into me,” Holly joined in. “He made a huge mess, ruining my book.”
Lisa gasped. “He ruined a book?!”
“He. Ruined. A. Book,” Holly dramatically exclaimed.
Lisa looked at me with disappointment. “That’s very meet-ugly of you, Kai.”
I snickered. “Holly ran into me. But, to be fair, a few weeks ago, I made up for it when I bought her some novels, including said book that I ruined.”
Lisa gasped again. “You bought her books?!”
I nodded.
Lisa swooned and cupped her face with her hands, looking at me with dreamy eyes. “That’s very meet cute of you, Kai.”
“Well, aren’t you just a little swing state,” Holly joked toward her mom.
“What can I say? I’m a sucker for romance.” She turned toward her husband and swatted his arm. “Why don’t you ever buy me books?”
“Oh, here we go,” Phil groaned. He pointed stern fingers toward MJ and me. “Don’t come in here being Mr. Romantics. You’re making it harder for me.”
I snickered. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep my romance to a low from here on out.”
“I promise no promises, sir,” MJ said, making me roll my eyes.
He might’ve been the most annoying douchebag I’d come across. I gave Holly a look, and she gave me the same back. I felt we’d be sharing a handful of ‘what the actual hell’ glances over the next week or so.
“I think it’s amazing that you own a restaurant,” Phil said, pulling the conversation back around.
“Yeah. It’d been a long time coming. My business partner and I were supposed to do it years ago, but my former partner had cancer, and I put my life on pause until we broke up.”
“You left a woman who had cancer?” MJ judgingly remarked with a tone of disgust.
“No, actually. She left me.”
“I had no clue,” Holly said, her hand resting against my forearm. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
I shrugged and tried to push away the discomfort. “Life happens to us all.” I shifted in my chair and pushed out a fake grin. “Regardless, after she was better, I had more time to focus on making Mano’s a thing. So, now, it is.”
“That’s amazing. Good for you. It takes a lot to open a business,” Phil mentioned. “It shows you’re a hard worker.”
“It’s just so unfortunate that the industry is so jaded. Most restaurants in the city don’t make it to a year. Do you have a backup plan?” MJ asked.
At what point was it appropriate to slam a fist into someone’s face at the dinner table? He was taking shots at me as if he wasn’t the villain that evening.
“I don’t think it’s needed. The restaurant is doing great. Someone as classy as you even knew about it, so people must be talking,” I poked at him, giving him a big smile.
“Having backup plans can’t hurt,” he replied.
“I bet you’re a master at backup plans,” Holly snarled, making me snicker. We were going to bond over our hatred for that man.
“We have many more business ventures ahead of us,” I told him.
Alec placed a hand on MJ’s shoulder. “We shouldn’t grill the new guy, sweetheart.” Alec looked my way and smiled. “MJ was a business major in college. He’s so intrigued with all aspects of it.”
“No worries. I can handle anything he shoots my way,” I said. A bit of a threat because it was clear MJ was taking swings at me. I was never one to back down or be bullied into a corner. He had no reason to be rude to me, though. Unless he was…jealous? Was he jealous that I was with Holly?
I placed my hand on top of Holly’s and leaned toward her. I whispered against her ear. “I think he’s jealous.”
“Who?” she quietly asked.
“The jerk.”
“Oh. Jealous of who?”
“Me being with you.”
“No way.”
“Turn your head and kiss me, then look for his reaction, okay? Pretend you’re laughing or something.”
Holly snickered and slightly nudged me away before leaning in to kiss me. “You’re so silly, Kai.”
The moment we parted, I caught the evil glare MJ was shooting my way.