Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 61248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
“You’re not getting screwed, right?” he asks, worry seeping into his voice.
“No,” I assure him. “I have some good people in my corner. That’s why I told you I really want you to talk to the attorney I’m dealing with. I’m going to connect you with her by email, okay?”
“Yeah. Sure. If you are that sold on her. You sure that’s all that’s going on?”
“It’s just a lot for us both right now. There’s change in the air.”
“In a good way. I’m looking forward to dinner.”
“Me too. See you then.”
We say our goodbyes, and I turn to Ethan. “How bad?”
“He’ll be fucked. And I read the conversation well enough to know he doesn’t have other options. You need to decide now. Do I call him and offer him a deal, or do you go confess about us to him and then set-up a lunch meeting for tomorrow?”
I push to my feet and start pacing. If I don’t tell my father about Ethan, his business will be saved, but at what cost? When he finds out about me and Ethan, they will be in business together, and it could become hostile, not to mention the personal negatives of that tension between them. But if I tell my father now, he might be stubborn and pissed, which would mean all hell breaks loose. The best of both worlds is that I tell him, and he is frazzled but accepts Ethan’s offer plus gets to know him in a positive light, which translates to him accepting me and Ethan as a couple.
A couple. My God, am I a couple with Ethan Dalton? I think I am.
“Sofia?”
At Ethan’s prod, I rotate to face him. “We’re…together?”
He pushes to his feet and closes the space between us, but he doesn’t touch me. He smells fresh, like rain on a hot summer day, and he’s so close I want to touch him, but I hang on the silence, desperate for his answer. I need to know if I really understand what this is, what we are, and what this journey we’re traveling is, beyond land and ocean and airplanes.
His hands capture my upper arms, and he pulls me close, and just that easily, I tingle all over, warmth in my belly that spreads through my limbs. I’ve never known anyone who could affect me so fully, so easily.
“I do not want anyone else,” he declares, “if that’s what you’re asking. And I damn sure do not want you to be with anyone else. Yes. We are together. If that’s what you want.”
My heart sings with a joy I cannot fully understand. He does things to me, speaks to me in ways that reach beyond words. My grip twisting around the soft cotton material of his T-shirt. “I do. I want.” But when he leans in to kiss me, I press my fingers to his lips. “If you do that, I won’t leave.”
He catches my hand in his and pulls them between us. “You’re going to go see your father and confess?”
“Yes. I need to go.”
He runs a tender hand down my hair. “Then I’ll be here waiting. Paul will take you. I’ll have him here in ten. If you need me to come over tonight, I can.”
“Thank you, Ethan. Thank you so much.”
“I want his business to be part of my business. So as far as I’m concerned, go broker a deal, and I’m the one who’ll be thanking you.”
I study him a moment and decide he means this. He really was impressed with my father, and he’s able to see beyond his first impression to admit he’d made a mistake. And with that, he’s officially proven to me, he’s capable of being more than the cold hard businessman I once believed him to be. He’s human. He’s real. He’s everything I could want in a man and more, it seems, and it’s as terrifying as it is exciting. But I’m back to anything too good to be true is too good to be true. We might have been destined to meet, but this thing between him and my father might be more than the defining part of our beginning. It could be the drama and turmoil that leads to the end.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sofia
I’m about to exit my house when Ethan captures my hand and pulls me around to face him. “I’m going with you.”
“What? No. No, I have to talk to him first.”
“I’ll wait in the car. The windows are tinted. Actually, we can park around the corner. If things go well and he wants to talk to me, I’ll come inside. You’ll have total control.”
“I don’t think he’s going to just invite you in, Ethan.”
“He’s in a dire situation, baby. He might surprise you.”
“I don’t know.”
“There’s no harm, no foul in me being nearby, and you’re stressed. I can feel it radiating from you. I’ll be there for you.”