Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 63289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
“My father respects people with their own wealth. While he was always willing to give me his. . .I felt like that would never be good enough in his eyes.” Ethan sighed. “Perhaps, I worried that I would never be enough to him.”
We stopped at the bench.
He gestured to it. “You’re wearing heels. I figured you would want to rest your feet before we finished.”
“That sounds awesome.” I lowered onto the beach and crossed my legs. “So, tell me this.”
He sat down and smirked. “Maya, I will tell you anything you want to know.”
I grinned. “The moment when you reached that success that you had worked so hard to get with your own name, and you presented it to your father. . .how did it make you feel?”
Ethan let out a long breath. “That is a moment that. . .I replay over and over in my mind, during the darkest times.”
“That good?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me about it.”
His eyes lit up with joy. “I gave my father a tour of my new firm and when we stopped in my office, I showed him the first month’s financial reports.”
“What did he say?”
“My father is a very stiff individual. He is not one to show much emotion. But that day.” Ethan gazed off in the distance. “That day. . .my father’s eyes watered and he pulled me into a hug.”
“He was really proud.”
“I would say that he has only hugged me three or four times in my life, but that hug. . .it is the one that lovingly sits in my mind.”
I looked at Ethan, truly seeing him more than before.
Last time we talked in his office, he gave me some romantic lines that made my body hum.
But now. . .I felt like he was opening himself to me.
This time, my heart hummed.
I smiled. “This may not mean much, but I’m proud of you too.”
“Thank you. It means a lot to me. Especially, since it is coming from you.”
“Why?”
“I know your story, Maya. You did not have the privilege I had from being a wealthy white man. Still, you rose to success from the power of your imagination.” He boldly took my hand. “Do you know why I invited you tonight?”
“To woo me.”
He blinked. “That is a very good guess.”
“And I absolutely want to be wooed by you.”
“I plan to, Maya. I have many things, many surprises in store.”
I swooned like a love-obsessed idiot, ready for everything he had planned and more.
“I have read all of your romances. I am particularly drawn to the way you write about love and its complexities.”
I leaned his way, wanting him to get the talking part over with and have him simply kiss me.
I swore a low groan left him.
He cleared his throat. “I found myself deeply moved by your books.”
That’s good. Now kiss me.
Unable to maintain my patience, I lifted my mouth up to him and leaned in closer.
His gaze fell on my lips. “Somehow your fictional stories helped me believe in the possibility of love in real life.”
My heart nearly burst out of my chest as he leaned in closer.
“Maya. . .”
“Yes?”
Lust blazed in his eyes. “I saw this evening going differently. As I said, I have plans, true romance but. . .”
“Kiss me.”
He closed the last bit of distance between us and pressed his lips against mine. A shiver ran through me, igniting a fire deep within my core.
He’s so perfect.
Ethan deepened the kiss, and it was a spark to tinder, igniting a blaze of longing and desire and consuming me in a dizzying inferno. I felt this sensual power surge through me as I drew him in closer.
Both hungry for the other, our bodies collided in a fiery embrace. His strength overwhelmed me. My breath quickened as my heart raced like a drumbeat. My nipples tightened and I melted into his arms, lost in a maelstrom of passion.
A soft moan left me, and he grunted.
I kissed him back deeply, eagerly, relishing in the heat of his lips and the sweet taste of his tongue.
Plus, he smelled of expensive cologne and I wanted to buy a bottle of it, swim in the liquid, and be immersed with in the scent.
He broke the kiss and looked into my eyes. His breathing was quick and ragged. “You are quite a surprise, Maya.”
A twig or stick snapped off in the distance.
It startled us both.
We turned in that direction.
What?
Far off on the other end of the path, a waiter stood, wearing that mysterious and elegant costume. Just like in the past memory, dream, or whatever, the waiter had on the same long, hooded cape made of a satiny, deep black fabric. It draped over his body and hid part of him in the shadows of the maze.
The same glittering gold mask covered his face.
My heart hammered in my chest.
This intense fear coursed through me.