Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
“She’s going to leave you, Ramírez,” Cole called out. “And when she does, I hope it hurts like hell.”
“Oh.” I turned back to him and took him in. I really looked at him and saw the pain in his eyes. “I get it. You think I’m your competition.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, you do. That’s why you tried to bring up the stuff from my past to trigger me. But Yara already showed me too many glimmers. My past doesn’t hurt the way it used to.”
“What the hell is a glimmer?”
“You would know if you knew Yara. That’s the issue, though. You don’t know her. You have no clue who that woman is, and I’m not sure you ever did know her. You think you and I are in a race for Yara’s love. You think if you can get rid of me then you’ll win, but you already lost. You lost her before I existed in her mind. You lost her before she muttered my name.” I crossed my arms. “Sure. Maybe she will leave me. Maybe she’ll walk away and not look back. But I’ll be able to sleep peacefully knowing there is no way she’ll ever go back to you. She has too much self-respect to do that again.”
I went back to the restaurant to cover the door with wooden planks, but to my surprise, my staff already handled it. I was damn lucky to have that team. After all was settled there, I ended up at Yara’s apartment.
She opened her front door with concern in her eyes. “Hi. Sorry. I fell asleep for a while and woke up to messages about the restaurant. Is everything okay?”
I sighed as I stood in her apartment doorway after the longest day. I felt defeated. Tired. Sad. But seeing her made it a little easier. My blood pressure dropped just from being closer to her.
I leaned against one side of her doorframe and crossed my arms. A small smile found me. “Hey,” I whispered.
“Hey,” She said, still worried. “Are you okay?”
“No.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Okay.” She leaned against the other side of the door frame and crossed her arms, mirroring me. “How can I help?”
I held a hand toward her. She took mine into hers. I pulled her into my chest and held her close. “This works.”
She looked at me with questioning eyes. “Just this?”
“Yeah. Just this.”
Holding her calmed the loudest noises in my head. Just having her close was enough to make a bad day not hurt as much. She soothed the deepest cuts solely with her touch.
“Goldie?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t let go, all right?”
She held on tighter.
CHAPTER 41
Alex
When Thanksgiving came around, Feliz and I pulled up to Matthew’s home around noon I knew I was told not to bring a dish, but I couldn’t show up empty-handed. Therefore, I spent the morning making Teresa’s favorite empanadas and a tortilla de patatas.
“Hey there, stranger.” I turned to find Tatiana walking up with a dish in her hands, too. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
“You too,” I responded. “What do you have there?”
“Coxinha. It’s a Brazilian dish. My mother used to make them every Thanksgiving. I still keep that going with the Kingsleys. I just have to fry them inside.” She glanced down at my hands, which had two dishes. “Is that all you brought?”
“I was told not to bring anything, but I couldn’t show up empty-handed.”
She frowned. “So you’re letting them do all the cooking?”
“Why do you say it like that?”
She shook her head. “Oh, sweetie, you’ll see. The Kingsleys are known for a lot of things, but cooking isn’t their strong suit.”
That was…concerning.
Was I about to be stuffed with cream cheese, Ritz crackers, and some cheesy ramen noodles?
We headed up the front steps, and the moment we reached the door, a woman swung the door open and burst into cheers. “Happy Thanksgiving!”
“Willow! I thought you were still running around with some oddity called Snake,” Tatiana remarked. Willow. Yara’s younger sister.
“Came back late last night.” Willow moved her long golden-brown hair to the side and revealed her neck to show a tattoo. “I got a few snake bite tattoos, though.”
“Willow Kingsley!” Tatiana remarked. “Are you kidding?!”
Willow laughed, and it sounded just like Yara’s. Infectious. “It’s a temporary tattoo, but I figured I’d give Daddy a heart attack for fun.”
“You are such a fool,” Tatiana said, shaking her head. “But I would enjoy seeing Matthew freak out.”
“Did you hear the news?” Willow asked her. “He’s deep-frying the turkey this year.”
Tatiana’s eyes flew open, and she darted into the house. “Matthew Samuel Kingsley, don’t you dare!”
I snickered a little at Tatiana running into the house. It would be an interesting afternoon. I was looking forward to it. If it wasn’t for the invite from Yara, I was almost certain I’d be sitting at home in a mood from being alone for the first time on Thanksgiving. It was one of Teresa’s favorite holidays. It was nice to get out to celebrate it because it forced me not to overthink everything.