Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“I can see how she would command a man’s focus.” The set of Alex’s shoulders relaxed. “None of this was my business. But I care about you. I don’t want to see you go low the way you did after the Jason thing.”
“This is nothing like Jason.” I briefly considered how desperate and weird it might make me sound to tell the story, but I decided to, anyway. “She left. After the island, she was supposed to come back here with me. But I said the wrong thing, and she bolted. You know what made her come back?”
Alex waited for my answer.
“Scott came to me and said it would cost me all of my money to have a second chance with his sister. And I wrote him a check for thirty billion without hesitation.” I still wondered what would have happened if he’d decided to cash it. I wouldn’t have put it past Scott to do so as a joke. “When she saw that, she came back.”
“Well, that’s certainly more impressive than an engagement ring.” Alex snagged a bottle of mineral water and twisted the cap off.
“Whoa, whoa. I don’t think we’re quite at engagement ring yet.” I chuckled nervously.
“Aren’t you? You were willing to give up thirty billion to be with her, but you don’t think you can make a marital commitment?” Alex held my gaze as he took a long drink of his water.
“It’s... complicated.” The thirty billion had been an impressive romantic gesture, but a ring felt different.
“Because you’ve been engaged so often?” Alex asked, throat tight from the carbonation.
“There’s that, and she has a lot of stuff to work through. Not stuff that’s mine to tell, but she needs therapy. If I tried to propose to her right now, I have no doubt that she would run again.” Even though her dragon had instructed her not to. The lure of escape from her own personal shackles would be too strong. “Right now, I’m perfectly happy living together. And working together.”
That got a huge, kind of mean laugh from Alex. “You gave her a job?”
“What?” I tried not to get offended at how funny he found it. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing.” He swiped one big hand through the air, as if totally brushing the remark aside.
But I wouldn’t let it go. “You’re going to laugh yourself right out of a membership to Ascend Manhattan.”
That sobered him quickly. “Wait, what? You’re making a resort here?”
“Not a resort. A kink club. It was Charlotte’s idea. That’s why I hired her to consult on it.”
“And for no other reason.”
I ignored him. “It turns out, there aren’t any laws specifically forbidding the operation of a kink club in New York. All of the clubs operating in secrecy aren’t doing it to stay on the right side of the law. It’s for privacy concerns. Ascend Manhattan will be the same way. Invited guests only, in a hotel with a hot restaurant that will provide a believable cover if someone is spotted coming or going.”
“Nice pun,” Alex said.
“Unintentional.”
“Your girl came up with the idea, and it never occurred to you?” Alex scoffed. “Major missed opportunity. You’re lucky you inherited that company.”
I could handle the teasing, because I knew I’d gotten everything I had by luck of birth. “That’s why I need Charlotte. Fresh eyes.”
“I’m sorry to be a downer about it. I do like her. And you two seemed happy on the island.” He held out his hand for a shake. “No hard feelings?”
“Never.”
“Bros, gross,” a voice said, I looked past Alex to see Mike, an old college acquaintance and perpetual prep, gesturing at Alex’s and my hands. “You know what we were just doing in there?”
Alex turned and smacked Mike’s hand as Mike reached for the chips. “Yeah, we do, so get some sanitizer on those paws before you go rooting around in the communal food.”
“Dang, do you need to go back in there?” Mike asked but reached for the hand sanitizer.
Alex turned to me, shaking his head ruefully. “Straight men. Animals, man. Animals.”
* * * *
I got a text from Charlotte at one in the morning asking: Is it safe?
Are you safe?! I answered. She’d stayed out far later than I’d expected. Way later than I’d wanted to stay up, but I couldn’t sleep without knowing she was okay.
I didn’t want to interrupt. I’m on my way.
Since it was safe to go to sleep, I headed to the bedroom. I’d already cleaned up the tissues and supplies left in the media room, but the staff could get empty cans and snacks in the morning. I tied the top of the opaque trash bag and set it by the door on my way out, hesitating a moment to make sure the motion activated lights turned off.
It would be strange, falling asleep without Charlotte. I brushed my teeth and threw my clothes in the hamper, then got into my bed and found that rather than sprawling across the middle, as I’d always done before, I stayed on my own side automatically.