AllFreeNovel
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So, it’s time to spell it out for her and to solve her problem so I can get on with the business of chaining her to me —forever.
As she takes her seat at the dining table by the window, there’s a knock on the door and the waiter pushes the trolley into the room and averts his eyes as they are trained to do. A silent servant, which is the best kind there is.
I press one hundred dollars into his hand, and he exits immediately, leaving me to serve my lady with her choice of food.
“Are you really this hungry?” I laugh as I set more food before her than is humanly possible to eat.
“I must have known you’d be joining me.” She shrugs and points to the seat opposite her.
“I hope you approve of my choices.”
“It will do.” I grin as I divide the dishes between the two of us and she giggles. “I never had you down as a waiter, Shade.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” I shrug as I heap salad on her plate. “I can cook. I can clean if I must and wash my own clothes. I make a mean coq-au-vin and my hobby is painting.”
I stare at her with interest. “Your turn.”
“Well.” She pretends to think and looks so adorable I can’t tear my eyes from her.
“I like to jet ski, obviously.” She grins. “I like to dance, usually in clubs, and I like to fuck on boats so anyone can see. Some may call me an exhibitionist because of it.”
She spears a cube of meat on her fork and says with a sparkle in her eye, “I love to travel and post photographs of myself in compromising positions and rebel against my parents. Then there’s the darker side of me.”
“The darker side. I’d like to know more about that.” I say with amusement, and she leans forward, the robe falling open, offering me a feast of a different kind.
“There’s the side of me who goes out in the dead of night and meets criminals in dark alleys. The wild, carefree side of me that jumps into helicopters with strange men and allows them to fuck me on the first date. That’s the kind of woman I am Shade, and if you don’t mind me saying, your hobbies are a lot lamer than mine.”
For the first time in forever, I laugh out loud. It’s as if the dark clouds lifted and everything’s right with my world. We are two people enjoying one another’s company, doing something millions of other people are doing right now. Having dinner together and talking and I like it—a lot.
I don’t entertain in my home. I don’t talk to women for pleasure. I don’t even ask them anything about themselves that doesn’t benefit me. Now I realize how much I missed out on. The closeness, the intimacy of two like-minded people, doesn’t always have to involve sex. It’s a meeting of minds too. An interest in what they are thinking and what makes them the person they are.
I almost consider carrying on our delightful evening and ditching the real reason I came home so early, but as Allegra reaches for her wine glass, I sigh heavily and stare at her with my usual dark expression.
“What?” Her glass hovers in mid-air as she senses the change in the atmosphere, and I say with a hint of anger.
“There is something I need to tell you, and you won’t like it.”
“Okay.” She takes a long chug of her drink and sets the glass down. “Hit me with it.”
“Your double who is currently pretending to be you in your brother’s apartment has news.”
“What happened?” She appears anxious and I reach out and grasp her hand tightly in mine and say carefully, “There was a package waiting, addressed to you.”
She tenses and I say quickly, “On the counter in the kitchen.”
“How?” Her eyes widen.
“Who put it there? Is Rafferty back, my mom even?”
“Are they the only ones with a key?” I ask and she nods, her eyes wide and filled with fear.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure about that, baby girl? Think hard.”
“I’m sure, unless Rafferty gave anyone else a key, but he never said.”
I reach for my phone and type out a quick text to Kyle to question the doorman and check the cameras. Something I’m almost certain he would have done already by now.
