Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 22067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
"Good evening, Mr. Kontides. Table for how many?"
"Just me, and I'd like a good spot where I can likely catch up with old acquaintances."
"Of course, Mr. Kontides."
My conscience starts to nag me as I follow behind him. I know I'm crossing a line here. I'm her boss, not her keeper.
But...I'm just concerned.
It's not like I'm going to get myself involved or anything.
I just want to make sure she's alright, that's all.
The guy at reception gives me a table right in front of a private room.
Ah.
I see.
They want privacy.
While I...want to murder someone.
I give it an hour, nursing a whiskey at the bar, watching the hallway.
But no one comes out.
What the hell's happening in there?
Is she already being smooth-talked into saying yes to something she shouldn't? Is she being seduced? Or having her drink spiked?
Enough of this, dammit.
I'm going in there.
Just to make sure she's safe and not being taken advantage of.
It's nearly eight o'clock. If it's an innocent dinner, I can apologize for the interruption and leave.
But if it's not?
My muscles tense as I head toward the private room.
I hear laughter. And another female voice?
Relief floods my entire being.
So it is an innocent dinner, after all.
Of course it is.
But you can't be too sure, you know?
I turn away, deciding it's high time I leave—
"Greek billionaires think they own everything. Including people."
But then I turn back just as swiftly the moment I hear Shayla's voice and what she has to say—
"He's the absolute worst!"
—about me.
SHAYLA
Dinner with Hope and her husband Colin has me feeling free and relaxed like I can't ever remember being. So much so that I end up having one too many sips of sake, and the next thing I know—
"Greek billionaires think they own everything," I declare, "including people."
—saying out loud the things that I only think about but know better than to express.
Hope leans forward, amusement dancing in her eyes. "This sounds specific. Are we talking about a certain Greek billionaire lawyer?"
"The one and only."
"And yet you've stayed nine years," Colin observes.
"For the salary."
Colin's gaze turns thoughtful. "Hope has told me a lot about you, and so you saying that you've stayed all the years for the money? It doesn't add up."
"It does," I insist even while taking another sip. "I'd have left if I could afford to. He's just so...mean!"
Hope laughs. "If that's all you can complain about him, then I'll have to take Colin's side—"
The sake hits me suddenly, and my head feels light, my tongue too loose. Did I really just vent about Adriano out loud? And in public?
"He's going to kill me."
"For calling him mean?"
"For lying to him about being married," I say with a gulp.
Hope nearly chokes. "Did you just say—"
"And he thinks I'm divorced, too, and...and...and I think I'm going to be sick!"
I rise unsteadily to my feet. Turn around to slide the door open. Only to have my worst nightmare come true as I find myself face to face with Adriano Kontides' gorgeous and un-gorgeously furious face.
Oh no.
Because I just can't control it.
I want to, but I can't.
And the next thing I know, I'm throwing up on my boss' ten-thousand-dollar suit.
I am so fired.
Chapter Four
ADRIANO
I PACE THE LENGTH OF the law library, my Italian leather shoes soundless against the plush carpet. The stench of bile and sake has been scrubbed from my skin, my ten-thousand-dollar suit sent for specialized cleaning.
But the stink of betrayal?
Oh, you bet it's still there.
For nine years—nine years, dammit—Shayla Tolentino has let me believe she was divorced.
Let me offer sympathies, let me think I knew her.
She lied to me.
I hear the door open, and there she stands: chin up, shoulders back, like she didn't just vomit all over me last night, like she didn't just demolish nine years of trust with one drunken confession.
"In my office. NOW."
"This is already part of your office, Mr. Kontides."
What the—
She really thinks she still has a right to be smart with me?
After last night?
"Try giving me that kind of attitude again," I bite out, "and I'll fire you on the spot."
But of course, this doesn't scare her one bit.
Why did I even think that kind of threat would work on New York's most-sought-after legal secretary?
"Actually—"
"Don't bother." Because I actually don't care to hear her make excuses. "What I want to know right now is how."
She stares at me blankly. "How...what?"
Unbelievable.
"How dare you lie to me about your divorce?" It takes everything in me not to raise my voice. And start shaking some sense into her. How the hell can she just stand there and not know that it's no way acceptable in any industry for a secretary to lie to her boss? And especially someone as perfect as me?
"Actually—I didn't lie." She says it so, so calmly, that it makes me want to just as calmly wrap my fingers around her neck...before slowly giving it a squeeze. "I simply smiled and let you draw your own conclusions."