Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 103050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“How long have you lived in New York?” I ask. “You’re British, but you seem very…”
He smirks. “I’m blunt. To the point,” he finishes my sentence for me. “I don’t see the need to be any other way. I’m attracted to you. I’m pleased whoever that guy was didn’t show up, because it means I’m getting to have dinner with you. Would you like me to leave you to wonder what I’m thinking?”
My heart is thudding in my chest. I’m not sure any man has ever been so forward in telling me he liked me. Certainly no one I barely know. It feels kinda powerful and I bite back a smile. “Absolutely not. It’s just unexpected.”
“I like to have things very clear in all areas of my life. And you shouldn’t be left wondering.” He says it as if I’m something he wants to respect and treat like glass. As if he doesn’t play games because I deserve better.
It’s shocking. And more than I could hope for.
“And you stay in a hotel for three nights a week,” I say, wanting to know more about this man who seems to hold me in such high regard.
“Yes. The other four I spend with my six-year-old daughter.”
“Oh,” I reply. Tonight is full of surprises. It was the last thing I expected him to say. I thought maybe he had some kind of arrangement with his wife where he’s allowed to cheat as long as it’s in a hotel. “But if you live just around the corner, why don’t you just stay there?”
“Because Willow’s there with her mother on the nights I’m in the hotel.”
“So when you’re there, is Willow’s mother there too?”
“No. We’re not together. She moves out. She has a place nearby. We move in and out and Willow stays in her home. It provides Willow with a more stable, secure footing. The inconvenience is all mine and her mother’s. As it should be.”
He speaks with such authority, like he’s thought about everything and every t is crossed and every i is dotted.
“I’ve heard of that arrangement but never seen it in action. How long has it been like that?”
“Three years. It works.” He pauses. “For now. Being at Hotel on Ninth Street when I’m not at the townhouse means I’m close by in case anything happens and I need to be at the house quickly.”
My heart lifts in my chest at his comment. “You’re a dedicated father.”
He doesn’t respond to that.
“Tell me about you,” he commands. “Where were you before you came to Hotel on Ninth Street?”
I haven’t got enough of Deacon as I want, but I get the impression he doesn’t like to be in the spotlight for too long.
“I worked at a hotel in Chilternshire.”
“And you decided to up sticks and come to New York?”
“Kinda. Avril and Poppy, the owners of Hotel on Ninth, came to a wedding at the hotel a while ago, and before they left, they spoke to me about this opportunity. They’ve been pretty insistent, and I was…looking for a change.”
“A change?”
I nod, but don’t add to what I’ve said. He suspects there’s more. He probably thinks I broke up with someone. If only it was that simple.
“Are you enjoying it?” he asks.
“I’m still finding my feet. I finish my training at the end of next week and then I’ll be able to settle in a bit more. I’m here for the summer, and then I’ll go back at the beginning of September.”
“How are you finding New York?” His questions are short, blunt, like he’s being charged by the word. But it kind of suits him. And it makes me feel like I’m valuable that he’s spending his words on me.
“It’s so different to the UK, isn’t it?” I answer, my mouth curling into a half smile. “But I’m enjoying it. When did you come over?”
“I was about fifteen the first time. My father was in the army. We were based in California for a couple of years. Then we came to the East Coast. I went to university in the UK, but came back after graduation.”
“Who’s we?” I ask. “Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“Yes.” He pauses and I don’t know why. What does he have to hide? “My younger sister, Chloe, is in London. She never left after university.”
I don’t know why, but something in the way he describes Chloe feels like he left the door open a crack. Like there’s something he half hopes I see, but he’s not going to show me.
“So you have just one sibling?” I ask.
His eyes slide to mine and his Adam’s apple bobs when he talks. “My older sister died when she was fourteen.”
My stomach churns, and I reach for his hand across the table, but he removes it before I can comfort him. “I’m so sorry.”