Read Online Her Contract (Romance) by Lara West - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lara West
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Adult, alpha male, Bachelor, sensual, playboy, boss, Forever Love, Single Woman, Hearts Desire, Passionate History, Personal Assistant
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inside. The soon-to-be bride and groom have arrived, and if I’m not mistaken Anna too.
Depositing my glass on a table inside, I look for her in the crowd. But she’s nowhere to be seen. Surely she must have come with Mom and Frank?
“Ah, darling. There you are,” Mom says, walking up to me and planting a kiss on my cheek. “Sorry, we’re late. We had a flat tire. Can you believe it?”
Even though I’m listening, my eyes are still searching for Anna.
“Now, Frank and I are going to circulate around the guests for the next fifteen minutes and then we’ll have the first speech. Anna is doing it.”
My gaze returns to her immediately. “Anna?”
“Yes, we asked her to do one. Yours will be straight after hers, of course. You did bring it, didn’t you?”
I pat my pocket and sprout a reassuring grin. “It’s here, Mom. Don’t start panicking.”
She gives a little scoff and then squeezes my arm. “Very well. Now, I better start thanking people for coming. Fifteen minutes, remember?”
“Yes, Mom,” I say with a broad, cheesy smile and then take my leave. I have fifteen minutes to find Anna and sort things out.
After about five minutes of searching the entire floor, the one place I stupidly didn’t bother to look was the exact place I’d been the moment she arrived. The terrace.
I watch her for a minute before I go out. Talk about beauty witnessing beauty. Her flowing dark auburn haired silhouette and the backdrop of Manhattan are a perfect couple.
She looks like she belongs here, and she does.
In a few months, this penthouse will be mine. Uncle Sam has decided on a sea change, in Maine. He wants to write a book about his memoirs – The Peaks and Pitfalls of a Billionaire .
Good on him I guess. He gets some well-earned R & R and I get his company and triplex apartment.
It’s a win-win all round.
I was hoping Anna would share this all with me, but now… that’s almost a hopeless cause.
“It’s pretty spectacular, isn’t it,” I say with care, closing the door to the terrace behind me.
Anna doesn’t flinch or turn around. She just keeps staring out at the blinking lights of the city.
“I know I’m probably the last person you want to speak to right now,” I continue, “but I’m going crazy. I need you to hear me out, Anna. Please.”
She peers over her shoulder at me and sighs. “You’re right. I won’t find closure until you do. So go on then, spit it all out.”
When she returns her gaze to the city, I fill the rest of the space between us and join her by the railing. Taking a deep breath in, I tell myself to just say it straight.
No excuses. No dilly-dallying. Just say the truth. Even the stuff she doesn’t want to hear.
“Everything I said that night, before we… slept together, was true. I did plan to seduce you, but then I realized it had backfired. As cliché as it sounds, I’ve been in love with you since we were damn teenagers.” I pause to wait for a reaction, but she just orders me to carry on.
“Before I came back to the penthouse… yes, I went and saw Monique. I didn’t think I had a chance with you over that inane comment I said about your work uniform, and so I just wanted to-”
“Bang me out of your mind again?!” Anna cuts in with a harsh tone. “Just like you did back in high school.”
I nod in defeat, acknowledging that what she’s said is correct. “But that’s just it, Anna. As soon as Monique and I started things off, it didn’t feel right. I felt like I was cheating on you or something. So I put a stop to it barely before she’d even…”
“I get the picture,” Anna says with a hint of humor.
It’s clear that she’s grossed out but, at least, she’s still listening. That gives me some hope.
“Let’s say I believe you, Lucas. And that getting a prostitute to suck your dick is what made you realize you loved me, yadda, yadda, yadda. What the hell is with her coming to New York and being on top of you?”
“Well,
Depositing my glass on a table inside, I look for her in the crowd. But she’s nowhere to be seen. Surely she must have come with Mom and Frank?
“Ah, darling. There you are,” Mom says, walking up to me and planting a kiss on my cheek. “Sorry, we’re late. We had a flat tire. Can you believe it?”
Even though I’m listening, my eyes are still searching for Anna.
“Now, Frank and I are going to circulate around the guests for the next fifteen minutes and then we’ll have the first speech. Anna is doing it.”
My gaze returns to her immediately. “Anna?”
“Yes, we asked her to do one. Yours will be straight after hers, of course. You did bring it, didn’t you?”
I pat my pocket and sprout a reassuring grin. “It’s here, Mom. Don’t start panicking.”
She gives a little scoff and then squeezes my arm. “Very well. Now, I better start thanking people for coming. Fifteen minutes, remember?”
“Yes, Mom,” I say with a broad, cheesy smile and then take my leave. I have fifteen minutes to find Anna and sort things out.
After about five minutes of searching the entire floor, the one place I stupidly didn’t bother to look was the exact place I’d been the moment she arrived. The terrace.
I watch her for a minute before I go out. Talk about beauty witnessing beauty. Her flowing dark auburn haired silhouette and the backdrop of Manhattan are a perfect couple.
She looks like she belongs here, and she does.
In a few months, this penthouse will be mine. Uncle Sam has decided on a sea change, in Maine. He wants to write a book about his memoirs – The Peaks and Pitfalls of a Billionaire .
Good on him I guess. He gets some well-earned R & R and I get his company and triplex apartment.
It’s a win-win all round.
I was hoping Anna would share this all with me, but now… that’s almost a hopeless cause.
“It’s pretty spectacular, isn’t it,” I say with care, closing the door to the terrace behind me.
Anna doesn’t flinch or turn around. She just keeps staring out at the blinking lights of the city.
“I know I’m probably the last person you want to speak to right now,” I continue, “but I’m going crazy. I need you to hear me out, Anna. Please.”
She peers over her shoulder at me and sighs. “You’re right. I won’t find closure until you do. So go on then, spit it all out.”
When she returns her gaze to the city, I fill the rest of the space between us and join her by the railing. Taking a deep breath in, I tell myself to just say it straight.
No excuses. No dilly-dallying. Just say the truth. Even the stuff she doesn’t want to hear.
“Everything I said that night, before we… slept together, was true. I did plan to seduce you, but then I realized it had backfired. As cliché as it sounds, I’ve been in love with you since we were damn teenagers.” I pause to wait for a reaction, but she just orders me to carry on.
“Before I came back to the penthouse… yes, I went and saw Monique. I didn’t think I had a chance with you over that inane comment I said about your work uniform, and so I just wanted to-”
“Bang me out of your mind again?!” Anna cuts in with a harsh tone. “Just like you did back in high school.”
I nod in defeat, acknowledging that what she’s said is correct. “But that’s just it, Anna. As soon as Monique and I started things off, it didn’t feel right. I felt like I was cheating on you or something. So I put a stop to it barely before she’d even…”
“I get the picture,” Anna says with a hint of humor.
It’s clear that she’s grossed out but, at least, she’s still listening. That gives me some hope.
“Let’s say I believe you, Lucas. And that getting a prostitute to suck your dick is what made you realize you loved me, yadda, yadda, yadda. What the hell is with her coming to New York and being on top of you?”
“Well,
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