Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 60700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
The waiter leaves, and Bobby’s gaze dips to my breasts, and I realize my nipples are standing on end, pointing out my thrill to him, even through my strapless bra. “If you are trying to impress me, it worked,” I confide.
Bobby grins. “Glad to hear it, bambina. You take care of me, and I’ll take care of you, Lex. Speaking of which.” He reaches into his pocket. “I have a present for you.”
He hands me a new iPhone, the latest model.
I stare at it, slightly confused. I mean, I’m happy to receive any gift, but it’s not like I needed a new phone. I would’ve rather had the cash for it to pay off Arissa for my rent at Stylz.
“It’s untrackable and untappable,” he says.
Ah. Now I understand.
“Gimme your old phone, and I’ll put the sim card in.”
I hand over my phone, and he makes the swap.
“Use the calendar app for your hair appointments. It’s shared with me, so I can see what time you have to go in and get off.”
I blink. Wow. Is that a red flag? What am I getting myself into?
“Yes, I do own you, now.” His wink softens the words.
I flush. There’s only one way to play this, and that’s to go with the flow. See his control issues as a kink, not a personality flaw.
“You’re the boss,” I say.
Bobby
After another sizzling round between the sheets with Lexi, I drive home and park in the garage, glad to see both my daughters’ cars in the driveway. I have to exercise an enormous amount of restraint not to still treat them as if they’re in high school. Lord knows, I want to give them a midnight curfew and demand a full accounting of where and with whom they’ve been. Then personally visit every guy who takes an interest in them and threaten to cut off his hands if he tries anything with my baby girls.
“Hi, Daddy!” Juliana calls from the kitchen. “I’m making meatballs!”
“At midnight?” I give her a peck on the cheek and sit down on a barstool at the breakfast counter.
“Yeah, why not?” she says.
“Well, when are you going to eat it, tonight?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe. It will just be ready for whenever we want to eat it.”
I smile. “Thanks, sweetie. I like it when you cook.”
“A fancy invite came for Mario and Sandra’s wedding.” Juliana points to the opened invitation on the counter.
“Oh yeah, when is it?”
“End of the month.”
“Did you put it on the family calendar?”
“Of course. So, where have you been?”
“Yeah, where have you been?” Janine joins us in the kitchen.
“I had a date.”
“I knew it! I told you.” Juliana looks past me at her sister. “You have a new girlfriend, don’t you?”
Smart girls.
“What makes you think so?”
“You got home late last night, and this morning you seemed way too happy. And then you said you weren’t going to be around for dinner. So I knew it!”
“Reasonable deduction.”
“What’s her name?”
I hesitate. I don’t like my kinky sex life to collide with real life. With family with a lowercase or Family with a capital F. But for some reason, something about Lexi makes me feel like sharing. Maybe I’m just riding the high of my two orgasms in one night. Maybe I’m just drunk on feeling powerful. Because that’s how Lexi makes me feel when I have those blue eyes trained on me. When she says softly, you’re the boss.
So I tell them more than I should. “Lexi. She’s a hairstylist—she’s a knockout and smart, too.”
“Are you going to bring her by?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because you two do not need to be exposed to my dating life.”
“Why not?” both girls demand at the same time.
“This is the way it’s always been. Why the sudden interest in my love life?”
Janine shrugs. “We just want you to be happy.”
“Yeah, Dad,” Juliana says. “We’ve been talking about it. Remember when you and Mom first got divorced, and we said we never wanted you to remarry?”
I nod.
“Well, we’re sorry for that. Kids are selfish, you know? We were talking about it, and we feel bad. Now that we’re grown up, we obviously see things differently.”
I blink at the sudden burning in my eyes. “Thanks, but I like the way things are,” I say gruffly.
My phone rings, and seeing Joey’s name, I answer it.
“Hey Bobby,” Joey says in the clipped tone that means we’re going to discuss business. I stand and walk out of the room, away from my daughters’ ears, though they know better than to listen in on business conversations.
“What’s up?”
“My insider with the FBI said they’re sniffing into Manghini Construction. It sounds like it’s being driven by democrats who are trying to get the mayor out of office. They’re looking for any payments or kickbacks you made to him for the city construction deals. Will they find anything?”