Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
And then she spun and marched towards the exit.
Everyone started clapping.
The production assistant who had announced her arrival hesitantly came towards me, clutching an iPad to his chest.
“Signor Mavros? I’m so sorry to bother you, especially considering...” His head gestured towards Lena’s retreating back and then he made a face. “I am sorry I did not double-check the approved visitor’s list. So we were very, very vigilant when another woman showed up claiming to be a close family friend.”
I looked down at my watch wondering what on earth I was about to face now.
But the assistant hurried to assure, “She’s on the list, and we double-checked her name and ID.”
I waved a hand to get to the point. “Who is it?”
But just then I looked up to the door that led to the elevator. The door pushed open as Hope stepped out onto the roof right as Lena reached for the doorknob.
TWENTY-THREE
HOPE
What the hell was she doing here? The last I heard of Lena being in Italy was a month ago. Had she been here secretly visiting Janus on set the whole time? I thought they hated each other.
Her eyes lit up when she saw me and she waved her fingertips.
God, what a bitch.
Her eyes scoped me up and down. “Been hitting the pasta a little too hard, huh?” she laughed under her breath as we passed.
It would be unprofessional if my foot just happened to stick out and accidentally trip her, right?
When they go low… I grumbled to myself. And gritted my teeth, keeping my head up as I passed by. I clenched still tighter as her haughty laughter rang up the stairs behind her.
And you better believe I was pissed as I stalked across the roof towards Janus. I’d come here feeling so bad I hadn’t seen him in what felt like weeks other than a glimpse here and there. So I thought I’d come and surprise him during lunch.
Only to find her.
My fists were clenched so hard, my fingernails bit into the flesh of my palms. And yet I knew I also had to keep myself in check because while Janus was my fiancé… Leander wasn’t and we had to keep up pretenses.
Which was really frustrating at the moment because I wanted to scream at him and throw myself into his arms at the same time.
And, likely because of the pregnancy hormones, I also wanted to sit down right where I was standing and start bawling. Apparently, when you were pregnant, that was the solution to everything. Puppy on a commercial? Burst into tears. Leander says something even half-way sentimental or sweet? Burst into tears. Milo brings me back food from the market—tears.
But, uh… that wasn’t the only pregnancy symptom that had been the most, er… noticeable lately.
See, there was this other… um… symptom? If you could call it that. ’Cause even though I was already knocked up, apparently my body’s signals were all outta whack…
And I was hornier than I’d ever been in my life.
Really uncomfortably, unspeakably, unstoppably horny.
And yes, while I’d wanted to surprise Janus with lunch, well, I’d also hoped to…
But then when I’d shown up, the she-bitch was here and now my emotions felt all over the place. I was still horny even though Milo and Leander had fucked me this morning but I also felt like sitting down and crying.
Maybe Janus saw something of my dilemma on my face because he strode forward to meet me and put a hand to the small of my back. Which was ridiculously comforting even though I was still mad about Lena.
“I can explain about her,” he whispered in my ear. Maybe he really could read me, or I was just shit at hiding my feelings lately. “Come on. Let’s go somewhere without so many eyes. And God, it’s good to see your face in daylight. I’ve missed you so much.”
My heartbeat immediately amped down from fight or flight to a more regular rhythm. He always knew what to say to put me at ease.
But instead of relaxing, my suddenly whirling mind wondered if that was just part of the act. Janus was too perfect sometimes. So… what if it was just him playing a part? He was literally an actor. And I saw how well he slipped into being Leander so often and so well that no one but me could tell them apart.
Well, me and Lena.
I frowned.
As soon as we got to the stairwell down from the roof where no one else could hear, I turned to Janus. “Why was she here?”
Janus shook his head, looking frustrated. “She was just trying to stir up shit, like always.”
“Does she come by set often?”
“What?” He looked surprised. “No.”
I stared at him, wondering what to believe. Then I started down the stairs. I felt like crying again, and I was hungry. Hunger was the only other state of being I seemed to exist in besides horny and sleepy. I was a ball of basic instincts at the moment.