Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 68688 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68688 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
I still wasn’t in the mood for companionship, but I didn’t want to lose the one good thing I had in my life. I’m sorry I was harsh before. It was three in the afternoon. I didn’t know what he would be doing at that time, if he was still asleep or if he was out and about. The first time we’d slept together, he’d left early in the morning because he had a meeting. I wasn’t sure what his schedule was like.
But his three dots were immediate—as always. You weren’t.
It was so easy to talk to him, strangely so. When I met Adrien, we were swept up in passion and laughter, and the whirlwind never stopped. I’d only known him for a year before we were married. With Bastien, the passion was tenfold, but the rest of the time, it was calm…and easy. Not that I should compare the two because I’d had a relationship with Adrien, and with Bastien, it was…something casual. Just didn’t want you to think I was blowing you off.
I’m too hot to blow off.
I wasn’t sure if he was being playful or not, but I smiled anyway, hearing his voice in my head and picturing that handsome smirk. Very true.
Hungry, sweetheart? I could go for a steak.
I hadn’t eaten much the last few days, but talking to him had revved up my appetite out of nowhere. Yeah, that sounds good.
I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.
I quickly changed and put on makeup for the first time in days. I hadn’t even worn it to the bar, and it had impacted my tips. No one wanted a depressed bartender who barely had the energy to get out of bed to show up for work.
I stepped outside in my coat, and at that moment, a blacked-out SUV pulled up on the one-way street outside the café. It came to a stop, and Bastien stepped out and opened the door for me, wearing dark jeans and a long-sleeved gray shirt, and the color really brought out the blue of his eyes. His towering height was more apparent against the vehicle because he stood taller than the roof. And his handsomeness was apparent too when he smiled like that, like I was the only person he wanted to see.
He stepped aside so I could move across to the other seat, and I felt his big palm give my ass a playful spank before he sat in the chair beside me and closed the door. The car took off before our safety belts were fastened.
He didn’t make conversation, sat there with his elbow propped on the armrest, his fingers gently grazing the little bones in his jawline. When he felt my stare, he turned to meet my look. “Sweetheart?”
No man I’d been with had ever called me that before. Adrien never gave me a pet name. I imagined Bastien called a lot of women by the endearment, that it was a word he threw out to everyone, but I still felt warm when he called me that. “I forgot how hot you are.”
His smirk widened, the smile reaching his pretty eyes. “Then you need to take a picture so you don’t forget next time.”
Traffic in Paris was the worst in the mornings and early afternoon when everyone got off work. It was so bad that it was better to walk or bike, which was what most people did. But even now in the evening, the roads were congested. The restaurant was only a few miles away, but it still took twenty minutes to get there.
The driver pulled up to Le Relais de l’Entrecote, and Bastien got out first before he helped me out of the SUV. There was a line of fifteen people standing outside waiting for a table, but Bastien walked through the double doors and straight to the hostess desk. He had a quick conversation with the woman in the black dress, saying something about someone named Luca, and then we were taken right to a table…and we got a lot of dirty looks.
We were given a table by the window, and Bastien pulled the table out so I could squeeze into the seat against the wall before he put the table back in place and sat down. It was a famous restaurant in Paris that served only one thing—steak and fries. You could order as many servings as you wanted, and waitresses in maid outfits came by and refilled the plates with a new piece of meat smothered in a sauce along with a new batch of fries. I’d been there once before, a couple years ago.
The waitress asked how we liked our steaks prepared before she fetched our drinks. Bastien ordered a stiff drink, as always, and I stuck to a glass of wine. Our food came as quick as our drinks, and the waitress piled our plates with meat and fries with a spoonful of gravy before she walked away.