Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 133321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 667(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 667(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“It means I still love you, but I have to survive. I have to make decisions—”
“Mia—” I hang up and I grab the card Ri included in the folder and dial.
“Mia,” he greets me.
“Email me the offer.”
“And that’s how I ended up with Ri,” I say, finishing my story.
Grayson studies me as he has the entire time I’ve been talking, more stone than man, his expression unreadable. Abruptly, he stands up and I’m on my feet with him in an instant, not about to let him walk away. “Grayson—”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I was going to when I called, but then I had this realization.”
“What realization, Mia?”
“That if I took your money, it would seem like I was using you, and too many people use you. We might have been over, but I didn’t want us to end with me holding a hand out. That’s not who I am and I guess I just needed you to know that I was real.”
He pulls me to him. “Damn it, woman. I wouldn’t have thought that. You know I care about your father. Some part of you knew, even then, that I’d do anything for you.”
“Because you will doesn’t mean it’s right for me to ask.” I swallow hard. “And everyone does. I see how people want a piece of you.”
He tangles his fingers into my hair. “And what about you, Mia? What do you want?”
“You. Just you.”
“Ask me what I want.”
“What do you want, Grayson?”
“Everything this time, Mia. I didn’t have it last time, or you wouldn’t have left as easily as you did.” He doesn’t give me time to tell him no one could have more of me than he did, than he does. His mouth closes down on mine, and that chair, our perfect fucking, talking, us chair, is calling us.
Chapter twenty-two
Grayson
Ipull Mia down in the chair, resting against the cushion as she settles her head onto my chest. I have not laid with this woman in my arms like this in what feels like an eternity. And so I hold her now, and damn it, I should never have let her go. I should have known that she would never betray me with Ri and her reasons for going to work for him, well, as much as I hate them, they also represent so many of the reasons I love this woman. My money is nothing to her. She’s proven that every day of our lives together. She didn’t even keep the ring and damn it, that gutted me, and that’s exactly where my head goes. The day I’d found out she’d taken a job with Ri and the day the ring found its way back to me…
Three weeks without Mia.
It might as well be the three thousand years it feels like. I can’t sleep. I can’t think. I can’t fucking breathe. I toss my pen down on my desk and stand up, walking to the window, staring out over the city without really seeing it. I just see Mia’s pain. “Coffee and a protein bar,” Eric says from the doorway.
I turn to find him kicking the door shut and walking my direction in a pale blue pinstriped suit which he only wears on “lucky” days. It’s his deal uniform. I’d normally ask what’s in the pipeline when I see that suit. Right now, I don’t give a shit. “Since when do you bring me coffee?” I ask.
“You need something, man, and I figure caffeine is about as close to good as I can give you right now.” He stops beside me and hands me the cup, then reaches into his pocket and hands me the protein bar. “And you need to fucking eat.”
I take the damn bar and stuff it in my pocket, but I don’t ignore the coffee. I take a sip. “What do you have for me?” I ask, certain him and his blue suit are here on business.
“The bids on the hotel properties were accepted. We officially have locations for the Dallas and New York City Bennett Hotel launches. The firsts of many. Once we ink, I’ll work on getting the Dallas law offices moved to the property.”
“And we make money on the property where we run our firm,” I say. “You’re brilliant, Eric. I’m quite certain your bonus will buy you a new lucky suit.”
“Try a new lucky Jaguar or ten.” He inhales, his mood shifting. “We need to talk.”
I narrow my eyes on him. “Talk?”
“About Mia.”
Tension radiates up my spine. “What about Mia?”
“She took a job.”
My lashes lower and I turn away. She’s officially gone. She’s not coming back to work here. “Where?”
“That’s the part I’d rather leave out of this equation.”
I cut him a sharp look. “What does that mean?”
“Ri,” he says. “She went to work for Ri.”
Those words punch me in the chest so hard that I want to punch the window, and that’s not me, that’s not how I operate. “Is she fucking him?” I ask, the anger I can’t control radiating in my voice.