Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“Oh Xavier! That’s wonderful. I thought you’d never settle down—”
I interrupted her before she started making wedding plans. “Mom, it’s not like that. I’m bringing my assistant Evie.”
“So she’s only your assistant, but you want us to meet her?” Confusion rang clear in her voice.
“Evie is a friend, not just an assistant. “ I paused, realizing it was true. In the past six weeks Evie and I had become friends. She was funny, and kicked my ass in the kindest way possible.
“Okay,” Mom said slowly, trying to sound nonchalant, but I caught the hint of excitement in her voice. I’d never brought a girl home and she would make a big deal out of it, I could just tell, and so would the rest of my family.
Not even thirty minutes later, my mobile rang and Marc’s name appeared on the screen. Here we go. “Mom called you, didn’t she?” I said by way of greeting.
There was a short pause on the other end, then a chuckle. “She did. Can you blame her? It’s the highlight of her year.”
“She doesn’t need to get too excited, all right? Evie is a friend and my assistant.”
“She is. Did the non-disclosure clause come in handy yet?”
I hung up.
Five minutes later my mobile flashed with a message from Milena, Marc’s wife.
I can’t wait to meet your “assistant”. ;-)
I didn’t reply. Maybe introducing Evie to my family gave the wrong message, but I wanted her to come with me even if my family was intent on driving me up the walls.
I was glad for my plans to meet Connor for a kick-ass workout later. I really needed to blow off steam.
Of course, I should have known even my best friend wouldn’t give me a fucking moment of peace.
“You’re spending a lot of time with Evie,” he said twenty minutes into our workout.
“She’s my assistant,” I told him as I put more weight on the barbell for my next set of deadlifts.
Connor shrugged, regarding me curiously. “Sure. But with your previous assistants you didn’t do movie nights.”
“Because they grated on my nerves trying to blow candy up my ass.”
“You didn’t take them to visit your family either.”
“So Evie told you about it?”
“She let it slip. Fiona is a bit suspicious about your motives toward her sister, to be honest.”
I grunted as I pulled the barbell up, then finished the set before I answered Connor. “I don’t have any motives. Evie’s never been outside of the city since she’s come here. She has never even been in a saddle. I want to rectify that.”
“There are other things she hasn’t done. I hope you won’t rectify them as well,” Connor mumbled as he took my place in front of the barbell.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” Connor bit out between deadlifts. “I’m not getting involved in this.”
“For not getting involved you’re asking an awful lot of questions, mate.”
He straightened, looking me square in the eye. “I don’t want you to fuck Evie over. Or fuck her at all. Period.”
My eyebrows climbed my forehead. “I have no intention of fucking Evie over.”
Connor’s eyes narrowed. “And fucking her?”
I didn’t say anything because I didn’t like to lie to my best friend. Though the term fucking didn’t sit well with me when I thought of Evie.
Connor touched my shoulder. “Just do me one favor: don’t, okay? Not with her. Keep your dick in your pants for once.”
“Don’t worry. I enjoy being around Evie, that’s all,” I said, and it was the honest truth. She was the first woman except for my mother and sister whose company I enjoyed.
Xavier picked me up that morning from home under the watchful eyes of my sister and Connor. They didn’t say anything, more because of my warning glare than anything else, but Fiona’s expression told me all I needed to know about her thoughts regarding the road trip.
In the car, I asked again, “You asked your mom, right?”
“I did,” Xavier said with a grimace.
“You don’t look very happy. I don’t have to come.”
“You have to come. My family’s already planning the wedding.”
I choked on a laugh. “Just so you know, if you propose, I expect the full package: falling to your knees, bling, red roses, violins and fireworks.”
Xavier bared his teeth. “I have the full package—what else could you want?”
Heat blasted through my body like a pyroclastic flow. “You are full of yourself, that’s all.”
Xavier shrugged. “I guess you’ll never find out.”
I scowled out of the side window. I guessed he was right.
Despite Xavier’s words, or maybe because of them, I was inexplicably nervous about meeting his family. It felt like being introduced to your boyfriend’s parents for the first time, not that I had any experience in that regard. Not that Xavier was my boyfriend. I was his assistant.
I slanted him a look, still surprised that he’d asked me to come to his family home with him. “Are you really sure your family will be okay with me staying the night as well?”