Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“I’ll pick one up and see what she thinks. She did mention that Frank’s office is packed with boxes—old and new. But she has no idea what’s in them.”
“I’d like to know, if she can spare a minute to look inside a couple of them. But I want to know if there is paperwork first and foremost.”
“Okay. I’ll mention it. Is Eric still breathing?”
“Yeah. From what Domenico said, Eric was the one in control of that interaction. Frank left red-faced and flaccid.”
“Interesting,” I said.
Eric was, on the outside, a local businessman who owned a handful of establishments. Which he used to keep the law from seeing his real money maker: cocaine.
“Yeah,” Remo agreed. “Things are looking more and more like Frank is not the player he thinks he is. I just need some damn proof that his business is as belly-up as I suspect.”
“Hopefully soon,” I agreed. “I gotta get going and locate a door lock.”
“Do I need to know?” Remo asked.
“Nope.”
“Good.”
With that, he turned and walked away.
I stood and watched him disappear… somewhere before I made my way out the way I’d come in.
I had a bunch of errands to keep myself occupied.
Unfortunately for me, all of them involved Roe. Which meant my mind was on her constantly. Not that that was something new. I hadn’t thought about shit else since I first spotted her.
Putting my hands on her wasn’t an option. Especially after hearing she was worried I might be expecting something for giving her a few little gifts.
—
“Yes?” the woman at the dress shop asked first thing the next morning.
She was an older woman with the kind of elegant carriage and innate confidence that told me as attractive as she was in her golden years, she had to have been a knockout when she’d been young.
“Hey. I need to buy a few dresses for someone.”
“Oh, lovely! Around here, we love a man who spoils his woman.”
I couldn’t exactly correct her on that.
So I rolled with it.
“She said you would know her size and preferences.”
“Wonderful. Who might it be?”
“Monroe? Monroe London.”
“Oh, my,” the woman said, pressing a hand to her chest. “I’ve dressed many women in my day. I have to say, I think Monroe is by far the most beautiful woman I’ve ever dressed. And, I’d wager, the most beautiful one you’ve ever undressed,” she added with a little glint in her eye.
I wish.
“I swear those breasts of hers just defy gravity.”
Not something I needed to know.
My cock, which really needed to calm the fuck down, twitched.
“And those legs! But, of course. I mean, her grandmother was known for her gams.”
She kept up a running monologue about both Monroe and Roe’s grandmother as she bustled around the shop, snatching several dresses off of racks and moving them all to a central rack to display them.
My gaze slid to one of the price tags, and I exhaled hard when I realized they weren’t, in fact, expensive. Monroe was just painfully underpaid at her job.
“Now, I know she is partial to the emerald, but I really think the blue would look stunning with her eyes.”
She’d gathered a black, green, blue, a dark red one which looked black at certain angles, a deep bruised purple, and an unexpected cream with sparkles that, I imagined, would almost look like she was naked on stage.
“Bag ‘em all up.”
“All of them?”
“Unless you don’t think she’d like any of them.”
“Oh, no. I’ve seen her eyeing all of these.”
“Good. Then let’s ring ‘em up.”
She was holding back a smile as she brought the dresses over to the counter.
“You would probably be the best person to ask about this,” I said as I passed her some cash. “Do you know of a good tailor in the area?”
“Oh, these should all fit Monroe’s figure perfectly.”
“No, no. Not for her. I bought some suits that aren’t quite right.”
That was obviously a lie. But it was hard to feel bad when I had just dropped a couple grand.
“Oh, of course. In that case, there’s a great place over on Arctic Ave.”
“Great. Thanks so much. You’ve been really helpful,” I told her as she passed me the garment bag full of dresses.
“Anytime. Monroe really landed herself a winner,” she said as she walked me to the door.
“Think I’m the winner in that deal.”
If only it were real.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Roe
My next day of work was, thankfully, completely uneventful.
I actually didn’t even see Frank, save for a flash of him as he walked past the door when it was open.
That didn’t mean, though, that I wanted to linger. So I changed and got out of there within five minutes of walking out of the piano lounge.
My mind had been restless and spinning ever since I got home and locked my door.
On the one hand, there were all the many worries about this new job of mine, about Frank, about my personal safety.