Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 89303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
“Catherine was out of line.” He rested his hand on his glass.
“Completely. I told her I was seeing Sicily.”
“I wonder if she did it on purpose.”
“I don’t know… I can’t see Catherine doing that.”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” He swirled his scotch and took a drink.
“Well, she had plenty of time to make things right without being desperate.”
“I’m relieved it didn’t chase Sicily away. No woman should have to put up with a man’s ex just showing up like that, especially an ex-wife. And with your history, it would be reasonable if it scared her off.”
“Thank fucking god it didn’t, man.”
“What did she want anyway?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I don’t fucking know, man. And I don’t care.”
“Then, hopefully, that was the end of it.”
“Yeah.” I honestly believed the only reason Sicily was still with me was because I’d told her I loved her. I meant it when I said it, and I hoped she could see it in my eyes every time I looked at her. “I think I’m happier with Sicily than I ever was with Catherine. I was just too blind to see.”
“I agree. And I think Sicily loves you in a way Catherine never did either.”
It was a little tense the first day after Catherine stopped by, but we soon went right back to our old life like there hadn’t been a hiccup. After work, Sicily came to my apartment, and we made dinner, made love, and then we repeated it the next day—except when I had surgery.
Thankfully, my ex-wife hadn’t blown it for me.
Sicily and I were stronger than I realized.
I sat at my desk in my office and scrolled through the echocardiogram of the patient I would see after lunch. There was always work requiring my attention, patients who would call sooner than their scheduled follow-up and would need my attention, and my schedule was pretty hectic all the time.
But I was helping people, doing good work, making the world a better place, so it didn’t bother me. I knew I’d taken a bite bigger than I could chew, but it was fine. For now. A long time ago, someone asked how I would manage a wife and kids someday, and I’d brushed it off because it didn’t matter.
But now, it mattered.
Because I did want that again…someday.
Things would have to be cut back at some point, but I’d worry about that when the time came. For now, things were good, and I wasn’t anxious for the future or afraid of the past.
Sicily entered my office, bringing my lunch.
My eyes flicked to her, looking over her floral dress and pink heels, her curled hair pinned back and out of her lovely face. Sometimes I worked through my lunch, and sometimes I banged through my lunch. I would like to do the second one, but I really had too much to do right now.
She set it in front of me. “I also got you a latte with oat milk from that bakery you like.”
“Perfect.” I ignored the scan and gave her my full attention.
“Anything else I can get you?”
My arm moved around her dress and down her thigh, and I tugged her into my lap. “Nope. You know how to take care of me.” I pressed a kiss to her shoulder and squeezed her ass.
Her arm moved around my neck, and she looked down at me. “You’ve got a lot of work to do, Dex.” She acted like she wanted me to focus solely on work, but she was totally full of it. She loved it when she distracted me, when she was pulled into my lap and groped. Her eyes gave her away, with that smile she couldn’t hide.
“Maybe we need to schedule a longer lunch.”
She gave me a playful smack on the wrist. “There’s always after hours.”
“And when Andrea’s gone, you don’t have to be quiet—so there’s that perk.”
She gave me a kiss before she hopped up and smoothed out the back of her dress. “Eat. We still have a long day to get through.”
“I’d rather eat you, but fine.” I grabbed the sandwich and took a bite.
She glanced at me over her shoulder before she headed to the door.
“Baby?”
She turned back to look at me.
“Your ass is looking fine in that dress.”
She rolled her eyes, but that smile gave her away. “Eat.” She walked out and shut the door behind her.
I turned back to the computer, pushing her from my thoughts and focusing as I ate the lunch she’d grabbed for me. She ran my life so well that there was far less I had to worry about compared to before I met her. I could never go back to how it used to be. The woman was a godsend—as an assistant and as a woman.
She was barely gone for a few minutes before she opened the door again.