Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Maybe you were hoping she would be,” Worth says. “Maybe different is what you’re looking for?”
Leo shakes his head. “Absolutely not. I’ll be okay,” he says. “I’ll spend a couple of days licking my wounds. I’ll move and I’ll be right back to business as usual.”
“You’ll move?” Jack asks. “What do you mean?”
“There’s no fucking way I’m staying in that apartment. Jesus Christ, I’ve had to have twenty showers a day for the last week. My fucking skin is falling off. I’m not putting myself through staying there, where she was spying on me and my friends. No way. I’ve been staying at the hotel since last Monday.” He lifts his chin toward me. “Bennett had the right idea moving into his hotel. I’ve already come up with some revenue-generating projects for the place.”
Leo will be okay. I have no doubt about it. He’s one of the strongest men I know.
“You’re going to find a new apartment?” I ask.
“I have a meeting with a realtor tomorrow. We’ll see what’s out there.”
“That sounds positive,” Worth says. “Maybe you could think about whether part of the reason you had Nadia move in was because you wanted something more than…”
“The field of gorgeous women that is New York City?” Leo rolls his eyes. “Nah. I just need to bench myself for a minute. I’ll be back in the game in no time.”
Worth might be onto something with Leo, but now’s not the time and Worth gets it. He doesn’t push.
“Anyone got anything pressing they want to raise?” Worth asks
“Are we at Monday night sports or a board meeting?” Leo asks.
“I apologized to Efa for not believing her and for not trusting her,” I confess.
“Great,” Worth says. “Are things back on track for you two now?”
I groan. “Nope.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Fisher says. “She’ll come around.” Most things work out for Fisher, so he can’t possibly comprehend the idea of life not going his way. I envy him.
“Will she come around?” Worth asks.
I shake my head and beckon over the waiter. There isn’t enough whisky in the world.
“Have you thought about buying her a really expensive gift? Like a necklace or a watch or something?” Fisher asks. “In my experience, a nice gift can get you out of most situations with women.”
It takes effort not to roll my eyes. Fisher is being ridiculous. If he’s spending time with women who are won over by expensive gifts, he’s spending time with the wrong women.
“This isn’t a situation that can be fixed with a new watch,” I say.
“What about a car?” he suggests.
Worth glares at him. “She won’t forgive you?”
I let out a resigned laugh. “If only it were that simple. She forgave me. Quickly. Graciously. And without any expensive gifts. It was more than I deserved.”
“So what’s the problem?” Fisher asks.
“I’m the problem,” I reply. “The way I like things so private. Discreet.”
“Right,” they all chorus in unison, like they all completely understand where she’s coming from.
“So we’re done,” I explain.
“Just like that?” Worth asks. I shrug. “And I’m guessing from… your mood, that you’d prefer not to be done.”
“Of course.” I want to go home every night and slide into bed next to her. I want to pull her against me and smell her scent that’s peaches and earth at the same time. I want to feel what it’s like to have her belly laugh when I say something, even though it was just a little bit funny. I want to hold her when she’s sad and I want to hear every thought inside her head.
“But it’s impossible. I understand she doesn’t want to… hide, or hide me, or have to lie—I get it. She was surrounded by lies for a long time.”
“Are you technically lying?” Fisher says. “I mean, your name is Bennett Fordham.”
“Right. But I’m not open about being at the helm of Fort Inc. I’m not open about being the son of Kathleen Fordham. You five know those things about me. She knows those things about me.”
“You told her who your mom was?” Worth asks.
“I did.”
“Wow,” Fisher says.
“Precisely,” Jack says. “Wow. How did you feel?”
“Fine. Good, even. Telling her was like a weight lifted.”
“Did she know who she was? Efa’s young.”
“She knew. Reeled off her favorite movies and—”
“You were okay with that?” Worth asks.
I huff out a laugh. “Yeah. I liked the fact she knew of Kathleen Fordham. It was… more of a connection or something.”
“That’s big, Bennett,” Leo says. “I didn’t realize that she… you two were so close.”
I nod, unable to speak, because I have a lump of rock biting into the flesh of my throat.
We were close.
“And so she just walked away?” Fisher says.
“It’s easier this way,” I say. “There’s no point in spending more time together if things are going to end at some point.” Except I would have liked more time.