Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
She wandered over there, running her hand along the counter, then taking in the rest of the kitchen. It was kind of obvious that he didn’t cook here. There wasn’t even a crumb on the counter.
“It’s so clean,” she said as he placed the food on the counter.
He let out a laugh. “Were you expecting a mess?”
“Um, well, a man living alone, I guess I was.” She grinned sheepishly.
“I have a cleaning lady, Rainbow. And it’s not like I do much entertaining.”
She stiffened slightly at the reminder of the women he’d been with before.
“Rainbow? What’s wrong?” He walked toward her. Foolishly, she backed away until she hit the counter. He grabbed her around her waist, lifting her so she was sitting on the benchtop. Then he stepped between her legs. “What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“Not nothing.” He placed a finger under her chin, tilting her head back. “The only women I’ve had in this apartment are family.”
She jolted in surprise. “What? Really?”
“Really.” He kissed her lightly. “And now you.”
Okay. She liked that a lot.
“I have a past, baby. I can’t make it go away. But what I can tell you that the future is all you.”
Darn. It. Just darn it.
“You are so sweet.” She sniffled and wrapped her arms around him. “And don’t apologize for your past. We all have those. I shouldn’t be so sensitive.”
He kissed her, then picked her up and carried her to the stool at the island. “Let’s eat dinner. Then we can watch a movie and cuddle.”
“That sounds perfect.”
17
Aston wasn’t going to let this conquer her.
She could do this.
She’d already carried this damn box from the bus stop to her apartment building. Now, she was standing outside as she tried to catch her breath.
Glancing around, a strange feeling of being watched came over her. But she shook it off as silly. Why would anyone be watching her? Or if they were, they were probably laughing at the stupid woman trying to carry a huge box around.
Now she just had to get it up seven flights of stairs.
Oh God.
There was no way she could get it up seven flights of stairs. She was utterly exhausted. She wasn’t sure she had the energy to get herself up the stairs, let alone with this damn box. Already, her back was aching.
Seven flights of stairs would kill her.
Which left one option. The elevator.
She gulped.
Maybe she should have just paid to have it delivered. Would have been worth it to save herself from wrecking her back. Not to mention her arms, which felt like spaghetti.
And now she was going to have to take the elevator. Something she hadn’t done without Maxim since it had broken down.
Maxim . . . maybe she should call him.
But no, she didn’t want to be a bother. And he’d probably already left for work. Their different schedules had made it a bit more difficult to date these last couple of weeks.
Not impossible, though.
After the brunch and dinner at his penthouse, the next date had been a movie and some really heavy petting. And this Sunday, he’d told her to leave the whole day free. If anyone had told her a few weeks ago that she’d get all giddy over a man . . . that seeing him would be the highlight of her week . . . she’d have told them they were nuts.
And if they’d told her that a guy who looked and acted like Maxim Malone would be taking things slow because he wanted her to know without a doubt how much she meant to him . . . yeah, she’d have peed herself laughing.
This was so far out of her comfort zone. She had no clue what she was doing.
But she wasn’t telling him no.
Pretty much every man in her life had treated her badly. Up until Dayton hired her . . . and even then, he was acting slightly weird lately. What’s more, she kept seeing more strange invoices and some of Gretchen’s townhouses were selling for too much money.
She didn’t know what was going on, but she’d learned her lesson the first time and hadn’t mentioned anything else to Dayton.
Gretchen had been pissed at her for leaving the club two weeks ago, but she hadn’t had it in her to care all that much. She knew it was rude, but as Maxim had pointed out, Gretchen had disappeared on her first.
So she refused to feel guilty.
Maybe she should see if the new building manager could help her with the box. He was younger and far nicer than Brian. But again, she didn’t want to bother him.
This was her problem to solve, so she picked the box up again. Why’d it have to be so awkwardly shaped? It was too big for her to get her arms around it, so it constantly slipped and she had to use her leg to prop it back up.