Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94279 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94279 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
I turned to face him. Wilder didn’t budge an inch, so we were practically nose to nose. “Another day. But I’m the boss, and you’re the employee.”
He grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I really need to get ready for work. And it’s Wednesday, so tonight I have to relieve my dad at the bar at six.”
“How about I call my dad and tell him you need the day off and we stay in bed all day instead?”
“I don’t think so.”
He pouted. It was adorable, but I still needed to get to work. So I ducked under his arm and went to my closet. “What are you going to do all day?” I yelled from inside.
“I have a meeting with an agent I can’t stand at ten. He tried to get me to sign with him a dozen years ago. Now he’s representing a player I want and being difficult. I think he’s doing it on purpose because I turned him down.”
I slipped on a navy dress and a pair of cream wedges and stepped out of the closet. “That’s unprofessional.”
He shrugged. “It is what it is. I’m meeting my dad for lunch after, probably about one o’clock. Why don’t you come with us?”
I blinked a few times. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because then he would know.”
Wilder’s forehead wrinkled. “Know what?”
“About us.”
“So?”
“It’s where I work. I don’t want anyone to know.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
Wilder got quiet. I walked over and rested my palms against his chest. “If people at work know that I’m dating the boss’s son, they’re going to make assumptions and talk. That type of stuff sticks. They’ll look at me funny even when we aren’t seeing each other anymore.”
Wilder pulled his neck back. “You’re planning for the fallout from our breakup already?”
“No, that’s not what I’m doing, but—”
He shook his head with a frown. “Whatever. You should get going. I wouldn’t want you to be late for work.”
“Wilder…”
“It’s fine.”
I sighed. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Whatever.”
“I don’t want to fight with you before you go back to London tonight.”
“Who’s fighting?” He kissed my forehead, the same as he had before we were a couple. “It’s no big deal.”
Still, I could see in his eyes that I’d hurt him. But I was going to miss my meeting if I didn’t hurry. So I nodded. “Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”
“Yep. I’ll lock up behind me.”
Ten hours later, I still hadn’t shaken the uneasy feeling after leaving things the way I had with Wilder. We’d had such a great week, too—spending time alone, hanging out and playing board games with Olivia and Lucas, and we’d even had dinner with both my brothers. And here I wouldn’t even go to lunch with his dad. I felt like such an idiot for the way I’d handled things this morning. I walked into Carrick’s, stuffed my purse under the bar, and wrapped an apron around my waist.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, sweetheart. Everything okay?”
“Why do you ask?”
He shrugged. “Your smile isn’t reaching your eyes.”
“Just tired.”
A group of regulars came in, firemen from the twenty-third. I walked over and helped them while Dad went back to watching a horse race with his old partner. He hollered when one of them won, and Frank made a face and passed cash over the bar. The two of them would’ve bet on an ant race if they could see things that small anymore.
Sometime later, I went to the back and grabbed a rack of clean glasses to stock behind the bar. Frank called it a night, so Dad walked over to help me. His tremors were really bad lately.
“When’s your next doctor’s appointment?” I asked, sliding a stemmed glass into the rack over my head.
“Soon. When’s your eye exam?”
“Huh?”
He pointed down at the glasses. “Those aren’t clean.”
I did a double take. “Oh.”
Dad leaned on the bar. “You usually put half of them back even when they are clean because they aren’t clean enough for your liking. You want to tell me what’s going on? Because I’m not going to leave my pretty daughter alone in a bar full of men when she’s not on her game.”
I put the dirty glass back into the crate. “I’m fine. Just a little distracted, I guess.”
“That have anything to do with a certain rugby player I saw coming out of the building again this morning?”
I sighed. “I made Wilder feel bad earlier. He asked me to go to lunch with his dad, and I said I didn’t want people at work to know I’m dating the big boss’s son. Which I think is reasonable, but it came out wrong, and it seemed more like I was concerned about how people would view me after we split up—like I expected we would. Wilder said he wasn’t mad, but I could tell it upset him. And he’s at the airport by now, on his way back to England, so it’s not like I can take the subway and apologize in person.”