Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 154728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
“Well,” she huffed out, the wind quite obviously out of her sails. I waited for her to say more, but she didn’t, she just kept staring.
“How about I get dressed and go get us all coffees and pastries? Give you two the time to discuss, what was it? Length, girth and preferred position?” he asked, teasing in his tone.
“Caramel latte, oat milk, four shots,” Kiera said without missing a beat. “And some kind of chocolate pastry thing. I have a feeling this conversation requires sugar, caffeine and maybe a defibrillator.” She winked at me before sauntering through the door.
“Nice ass!” she called back at Kane.
“I like her,” Kane murmured into my hair as he pulled me into his heat.
Despite the strangeness of the situation, I found myself relaxing into his embrace.
“You don’t have to go get coffee,” I told him. “You can just … go.” I was giving him the escape hatch I sensed he might desire. None of my previous partners had liked Kiera. And though I adored her, she was a lot. Especially at six in the morning. Maybe closer to the truth was I didn’t want Kiera to see this and ask questions I’d been ignoring.
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me, Chef?” Kane pulled me back to arm’s length. “I ain’t going anywhere. Mostly because I haven’t gotten my fill of you this morning, and also ’cause I’m looking forward to drinking coffee with you and your friend and grilling her for all the information.”
He kissed me. Firm. Open-mouthed. Tongues. Like my best friend wasn’t right there in the living room.
I kissed him back.
Enthusiastically.
Then he let me go and walked back into my bedroom.
“Girlfriend, watching that almost gave me an orgasm,” Kiera pretended to fan herself before sitting back on the sofa and crossing her legs.
She was grinning, making no qualms about the fact that she’d been watching.
“I’m officially not mad at you anymore,” she announced as she patted my sofa. “Now get your ass over here and give me every goddamn detail.”
An hour later, the coffee was gone, and our croissants were no more than crumbs on plates on my coffee table.
I was sitting tucked into Kane’s chest, not really by choice. When he’d come back with coffee and breakfast—looking far too sinfully attractive in his shirt, jeans, tousled hair and a cheeky grin—I’d attempted to put a sensible distance between us. He was having none of that, grabbing on to me and hauling me across the couch so I was almost sitting on his lap.
Kiera watched this happen with the same gleam to her smile that she’d had the entire time she was here.
I had given her a complete rundown of the past four days. Had it only been four days? Trite as it was, it truly felt like a lifetime. Like Kane had changed something fundamental inside me.
I was plagued with romantic notions I’d been certain I was immune to.
Yet there I was… Instead of getting ready for the day, getting to the restaurant, keeping my orderly and important schedule in place, I was lazily drinking coffee in Kane ‘The Devil’ Rhodes’s arms while shooting the shit with my best friend.
My best friend who had never sat casually in my apartment drinking coffee and eating breakfast with any of my boyfriends. Never smiled and laughed warmly, joking with them as she had been with Kane for the last hour.
It felt easy. Nice. Kane was just as engaging, asking Kiera questions about her life, meeting every one of her sarcastic quips with jokes of his own.
“I’m having a party,” he said. “Well, my agent is making me have the party because of some fucking booze he talked me into endorsing. To be fair, it’s fucking great shit; I’d never promote something I didn’t actually like. Plus, the owner is a friend I owe a favor to, and I love a party.” He hiked up a shoulder. “Obviously, Chef is coming. And I would be honored to have you there to liven up the place.” He winked at Kiera.
I craned my head to look at him. “Obviously, I’m coming?”
“Yeah. You’re my woman.” He looked down, unaware or unbothered by the bite in my tone as he smiled lazily. “Want you there.”
My mouth went dry at ‘my woman.’ It had me momentarily stunned. He’d said it last night too.
I was only stunned momentarily, though.
“I have a job. I can’t take the night off with no notice.” My spine was straight, tone chilly.
Kane didn’t so much as flinch. “Yeah, which is why I scheduled the party for this Monday.”
I gasped in surprise. The restaurant was closed the third Monday of every month. Completely closed. We weren’t open for service every night, but there was always work to do. But those Mondays were a black day for everyone. It was so I could test out new menus, for the staff to have a proper break and to have the opportunity to deep clean or redecorate whatever Heidi decided to redecorate at the time.