Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
“He’s off,” I tell Sassy. It’s nothing new for him not to tell me everything that’s happening business-wise. He says it’s better that way. It bothers me this time, however. “Give me cuddles.” I grab Sassy and bury my face in her fluffy fur. “Let’s go explore.” I put her down, knowing she’ll want to walk.
I venture out into Vargas’s home or mega mansion. This place is built for a family. A giant one at that. I was thinking of a penthouse not a home behind its own private gates. At each turn, Vargas surprises me.
“Is it terrible if we peek in his bedroom?”
“Meow,” Sassy agrees and is already trotting over to the double doors that have to be the master. It’s also next to my room as he said. Sassy is already sniffing at the doors. Does she smell him? She really is a hussy. I’m one to talk.
“If we get caught, this was your idea,” I whisper to her. He did say I could explore. When I open the door, Sassy is off to the races. She dashes inside. “The heck!” Where the hell did she go?
The room is massive. So is that bed. I shake the thought. Focus.
“Sassy, get your cute furry butt back here.” I check under the bed first. That’s her favorite place to hide usually, but nope. A door sits half open. I push it open to only blackness. My hand roams along the wall as I go deeper into the dark room. Clothes brush against my fingers. How big is this closet? Sassy meows. “Seriously! How far back did you go? I can’t see in the dark. If you don’t–” A sharp pain in my knee cuts me off.
“Ahh!” I fall forward. I try to catch myself. Absently, I reach out and manage to grab hold of something. Whatever it is comes with me. I hit the floor, and then it hits me.
The lights flicker on. I stare up to see Sassy sitting on the island in the center of the closet. “Are you okay?” a woman asks.
“I’m fine.” I scramble to my feet to see the older woman. “I got lost.” I start to clean up the clothes that came out of the box I dragged down with me. “Oh my God,” I whisper. I’m going to murder Sassy later.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
I’m holding a pair of boxer briefs in my hand. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
Sassy meows, calling me a liar.
11
VARGAS
Cat: Pulling the video now. The doorman is a real piece of shit.
I glance at the text and pocket my phone. I know Catarino will get it handled, and I need to spend some time working on the deal with Fraser. After several calls with my financial people and others, I finally sit back in my chair and check the clock.
Dinner time. Despite myself, I smile. She’ll be at dinner. The entire time I was going over numbers and strategies, my thoughts kept straying to her, the same way they’re doing now. Does she like the house? Is she comfortable here? I’m almost … nervous … about it. I run a hand through my hair. That’s ridiculous, of course. What she thinks doesn’t matter. She’s just a tool for me to use to get to her father. But I suppose it couldn’t hurt if she enjoyed being here and being with me.
I rise and smooth out my shirt, then stride from my office. By the time I hit the front hallway, I smell some sort of roasted meat with the sweeter scent of bread beneath it. Mrs. Palacios has always been an excellent cook, but I suspect she’s outdone herself this evening.
Laughter tinkles down the hallway, and I realize how rare it is to hear that sound around here. In fact, I can’t remember a time when anyone laughed freely, not since my mother passed away. But Cadence is already lightening the mood of the entire house. Somehow, just with her presence, the place seems different. Warmer, perhaps. I shake my head. I’m imagining things.
Mrs. Palacios’s familiar guffaw ricochets into the corridor as I enter the dining room.
“Hi!” Cadence says brightly, her cheeks pink and her eyes sparkling beneath the chandelier’s light.
Mrs. Palacios smiles, her gaze on Cadence. “She’s something special, Vargas. Did you know that?”
“Yes, in fact I did.” I slide into the seat beside Cadence and notice Sassy sitting beneath the table.
An alarm goes off in the kitchen, and Mrs. Palacios bustles out, her iron gray hair and starched black dress reminding me of dinners from years ago. “Back in a sec.”
“You two seem to have hit it off.” I meet Cadence’s gaze, and my heart seems to kick up a notch. There’s something about the way she looks at me–shy but also curious. I don’t know why, but I find it enthralling, like she’s weaving a spell with nothing more than her expression.