Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
He leaned forward with a sexy yet playful grin. “Consider tonight’s dinner on me. Can you do that?”
“I’m not sure…” I stammered out. “Why would you pay for my meal?”
“Because having companionship for dinner is worth more than the price of this meal, by a lot.” His words were plain and simple, but the sentiment beneath gave me pause.
“Are you lacking for companionship Dante?”
He nodded. “I have a few friends who don’t care who I am out in the world. But I don’t spend nearly enough time with them due to our busy schedules.”
I nodded as if I understood. “Other high powered, entitled dudes?”
He smirked. “Close enough. Though I think they would all bristle at the “entitled” label, as would I.”
I laughed. “Are we forgetting how we met?”
“No,” he growled. “But in my defense, the nanny had just quit and I was desperate to get home to Lena.”
“At the expense of all the other drivers on the road? That’s entitled. I’m not denying that I understand now, but it was also incredibly rude behavior.” I stabbed a spicy chicken bite and chewed with a smile while Dante continued to glare at me.
“I can’t win with you, can I?”
I shrugged. “There’s nothing to win, Dante. You should have been rushing home, but not at the expense of all the other drivers on the road. Your emergency wasn’t more important than what anyone else had to do, probably less so because someone you trusted was here, along with probably half a dozen other staff, so really Lena was fine.”
His nostrils flared and defiance darkened his gaze. I knew he wanted to argue with me, but he couldn’t without coming off as entitled as I’d accused him of being.
“You’re a tough cookie, Lucy.”
I shrugged. “You have to be when you grow up in the shadow of a beauty queen.”
“Mother?”
I nodded. “Decades ago, but she passed the torch on to my sister who is stunning, poised and well spoken, which I decidedly am not. I grew up with everyone comparing me to her, and I always fell short. I grew a tough, thick skin to most criticism.” Most people were as callous as they were clueless when it came to so-called well-meaning criticism. “By the time I was seventeen I learned to tune them out. And by the time I was twenty-three, I learned to love myself all over again.”
“That explains it,” he said ominously.
Immediately I was on edge, but I took a beat and then another to quell my apprehension before I spoke. “Explains what?”
“Your empathy, and I don’t know, the way you talk with Lena is amazing. You encourage her, but in a gentle way that gives her confidence, and then you praise her for what seems like just being herself. It’s impressive.”
I swallowed around a lump of coal in my throat. “Wow. Thanks, Dante. That means a lot.” Most parents considered me nothing more than a glorified babysitter that they paid a premium to, but his recognition of my skills really meant something to me. “You’re not just a pretty face.”
He laughed, the sound rich and deep, almost soothing. “You think I have a pretty face?”
I rolled my eyes. “I think you know how pretty you are, Mr. Rush.”
“Still,” he batted his eyelashes and preened. “A guy likes to hear it sometimes.”
That brief flash of humor was too much for my poor, neglected hormones to take, especially when I nursed an ill-advised crush on my too grumpy boss.
Chapter 12
Dante
“We’re doing fine Mom. I swear. Why would I lie to you?” My weekly video call with my parents was off to an expected start with my mom worried that I was withholding things from her, and my dad backing her up as he always did.
“I don’t know Dante, but you have a knack for thinking you have to handle every hardship on your own. You didn’t tell us about your divorce until it was a done deal.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and wished I was religious so that I could pray for patience right now. “I didn’t want you to do anything that might make Bethany decide to aim for custody of Lena.”
Mom scoffed. “As if we would ever.”
“Not on purpose, but you definitely would have tried to talk her into making things work by telling her how a little girl needs a mother, which might have resulted in her trying to bleed me dry.” Luckily for everyone but Lena, Bethany had no interest in motherhood once she realized that my devotion to my little girl would never transfer to her and her ladder climbing needs.
Mom sighed as if she was offended, but I knew she was merely angling to make me feel guilty. “Well you never gave us a chance to butt in, so I guess we’ll never know.”
I rolled my eyes. “I grew up with you Mom, remember? I know you better than you realize.”