Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“I have a dinner reservation tonight,” he continued. “You’ll meet Brad there.”
I raised my brows at the demand.
“Please,” he added. “He’s a good kid. I just want you to see what life could be like if you searched for…companionship in the right places.”
I swallowed the knot in my throat. The right places being places he approved of, of course. He’d never, not once, approved of anyone I decided to spend my time with, starting with Jim. And sure, the other men in my life had been a series of emotional and sometimes physically abusive assholes, but not Jim.
Never Jim.
A surge of need swelled inside me, a craving for his jokes, his optimistic outlook on the world and the people in it, his touch.
Sweet heavens, it had been ten years since I’d spoken to the man and one encounter with him last night had me in literal knots.
I had to stop thinking about him. He’d always been too good for me.
“Okay,” I said, suddenly leaping at the chance to end this conversation.
Maybe it would be good for me to meet someone else. Not that I was ready for a relationship, but my father didn’t need to know that. He likely wanted me to fall in love with Brad and his considerable wealth, marry him, and be taken care of for the rest of my life. If I married a good, upstanding citizen my father deemed worthy, then I would no longer be his problem or his burden.
I couldn’t give that to him, not before fully healing myself first. But, a date never hurt anyone. And maybe it would help me stop thinking about the man I’d left behind when I ran away from this town.
“Wonderful,” he said, and genuinely sounded happy. “I’ll send you the details.”
I nodded, and left the office with as much grace as I could muster.
“This is some place your father selected,” Brad said from where he sat across from me at the table.
We’d just ordered appetizers and we were doing the break the ice dance while sipping on soda waters.
“It’s nice,” I said. “But if I’m being honest, I’d be more comfortable back at Lyla’s Place.”
Brad chuckled, an effortless smile lighting up his blue-gray eyes. He was beyond handsome, with various shades of dark blond hair that was styled to perfection, his frame muscled but more on the lithe side which fit how tall he was. The navy suit he wore only complemented his eyes, but it was the smile that likely drew everyone in—it was genuine, kind, and this side of mysterious.
All that and not a single flutter in my stomach.
Jim had barely touched me and I’d melted, and just the thought of him had my heart speeding up.
You have to stop thinking about him.
Right.
“I love Lyla’s Place,” Brad said as the waitress set down our calamari. “Best food in a hundred-mile radius if you ask me,” he continued, then waved an arm to indicate the room we were in. “No offense to this place.”
I laughed at that, taking a bite. “I work there.”
“No way,” he said, that smile widening. “Do you get to eat for free?”
Another laugh flew past my lips. He was certainly surprising. If I’d told any of my old “friends” that I was serving tables they would’ve turned up their noses at me right before disowning me as a friend completely.
“One meal per shift,” I said, and Brad leaned back in his chair, shock coloring his chiseled features.
“Now I want a job there,” he said. “How long have you been working there?”
“Three whole weeks,” I said, very proud of myself.
“Do you love it?”
“I actually do,” I admitted. “I’ve never served tables before and I find it’s really…satisfying.”
Brad nodded, munching on the appetizer before taking another sip of his soda water. When we were first seated, I explained to him it wouldn’t bother me if he ordered a drink, but he insisted on ordering what I did. It was sweet, and he was definitely shooting off all kinds of green flags, but we were missing that initial spark of chemistry.
“That’s wonderful,” he said. “Doing what you love is what life is all about.”
I grinned at that, and then decided Brad was way too nice a guy to give the wrong impression to. When my father set up this date, I fully expected him to be the same kind of I’m-better-than-everyone type I’d dealt with countless times in the past. We’d only been chatting for a half hour and I could tell he was nothing like that.
“Can I be honest with you, Brad?” I asked, nerves tangling in my stomach. There was every chance he would get offended by my truth or he could tell my father off for setting us up in the first place, but I couldn’t lead him on.
“I would prefer it,” he said.