by Lindsey Hart
“That’s disgusting.”
His perfect bow lips wobbled into that signature grin that she was already so used to. “Sorry. That did come out all wrong. All of it probably did. I just want to take you out. For waffles. I want to get to know you. I like that you’re not afraid to tell me off. Flip me off. Whatever.”
“And then what? You’ll take me back to your place and bang me senseless again so that I don’t know any better, toy with my emotions, bend me to your will, and then tell me that all of this was just another scam and you really just needed to use me to sell your stupid shoes after all?”
“No.” He shook his head and his eyes burned. She could tell he was being completely genuine. “Never. I mean, if you want me to bang you senseless again, I’d be happy to oblige. I promise you though, this isn’t about using you in any way. I’m sorry that I lied to you. I’m sorry that I’m an idiot and a shithead and an asshole and whatever else you want to interject into there. For the record, it was your dad who suggested the marriage. Not the other way around. I was opposed to it. I never would have even involved you. I came looking for you because I didn’t know what else there was in life, other than trying to prove my dead father wrong when he said I’d never be good enough. I found something else though. I realized how stupid that was. All of it. You helped me with that.”
“Gee. I should go into work as a psychologist.” Her words came out without any heat though.
“I think it would be a noble calling.” Byron blinked. “Tell me you didn’t feel anything. That it really was all fake. Because I think that we’re good together physically and I want to be more than that. I like your laugh. I like your smile. I’d like to get to know you. As a person.”
“I think that’s what all the guys say when they just want to get in your pants,” Noemi said dryly.
“I’ve already been in your pants. Lots. That’s not what I’m after. Just give me one more date. The waffles. For real. I promise if you don’t want to see me again after that, you don’t have to.”
Noemi wanted to flip him the bird, give him a swift boot out of her car, and tell him to stay the living heck away from her and her dad. The words were just about there.
“I want-” she started but trailed off.
Byron blinked.
She ground her teeth.
He blinked again.
She curled her hands into fists so hard that her nails dug painfully into her palms. She willed the words to come to her. To take form and shape and hurl themselves into the air.
Nothing happened.
The car remained totally silent.
“Tonight then? Waffles? That diner? I don’t really know if their food is good. I’m just guessing. Hopefully, they won’t have another grease fire.”
“No.” Noemi ground out.
Byron’s face remained carefully neutral, but she could see the hurt glimmer in his eyes. He really was telling the truth. He really wasn’t used to feeling vulnerable. Confused. Messed up. Wrecked. Well, neither was she. He truly was lost at heart. Alone. Alone in a way that success, power, money, women and fast living could never make up for. He was the classic cliché. She wasn’t. She and her dad didn’t live that way, even though they had money. He didn’t want that for her. Yet, for some reason, he’d picked Byron. Out of all the men he could have tried to thrust on her, he picked Byron. Her dad. Who knew her better than anyone else in the world.
Maybe he knew something that she didn’t. Maybe it wasn’t about her. Maybe it was about him. A lonely man. A broken man, at heart. A man who came to her father for a partnership. A man her father had no doubt hired someone to look into before he made the crazy proposal of an arranged marriage of sorts.
He wasn’t trying to trade her away. Her dad loved her. She loved him. It had always just been them. Did he know something that she didn’t? Did he realize something that she hadn’t?
Was that small stirring in her chest, which went past mere physical attraction, actually something she could trust and listen to?
She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to listen. She didn’t want to trust.
“Alright.”
The word echoed through the car like cannon fire, bouncing around just as dangerous and as destructive.
“Alright?” Byron echoed, his eyebrows shooting nearly to his hairline.
If he was hot normally, he was irresistible when some real, true shock filtered through. His thick lashes swiveled up and down, as he blinked at her. For once it seemed like he was at a loss for something to say. Finally, she’d struck him speechless.
“Yeah. Okay. Waffles. Then you’ll leave me alone for good?”
“If that’s what you want.”
She already knew, in the deepest, most evil, devilish, pleasure seeking, orgasm loving, egocentric, darkest corner of herself that it wasn’t what she wanted. She also didn’t know if she could trust someone who had just put on such an elaborate ruse of tailing her across the country, lying about who he was, renting a house, renting a car, and making it all look natural. Should she run for her life or be flattered in a sick kind of way.
“It depends how good the waffles are,” she finally muttered. She held out her hand. “Now. My keys.”
“I’ll only give them back if you promise to meet me. You know that I’m going to hold you to it, now. If you don’t show, I’ll track you down and find you again until you give me that date.”
“That’s really creepy and way too stalkerish to be at all romantic.”
He winked. “I’m that serious about the waffles.”
“Well, if it’s just waffles you want, you can get those anywhere.”
Before she could pull away, he leaned across the seat and gave her a chaste kiss, just a brush of his lips on hers, but it turned her insides into fire. He pulled away before she could think fast enough to slap him.
“It’s not just the waffles.”
She still hadn’t formed words when he dumped the keys into her lap and slid effortlessly out of the car.
She waited until he was back behind her before she thrust her hand out the open window and flipped him off one more time for good measure.
He waved back at her and she knew that he’d won whatever war they were waging.
She also had to admit that just a little tiny part of herself was glad she’d lost.
EPILOGUE
Byron
“You know, I was thinking that it would be fitting it for the menu, we just requested ten different kinds of waffles and like, a hundred different toppings. Do you think anyone would complain if there were vegan and gluten free options?”
Noemi glanced up from the book she had spread across her lap. She was lounging by the pool, sunglasses and a little black bikini and all. She slid the glasses down her nose and turned to study him. He’d come up behind her, taking her by surprise, but she was used to him and all his surprises after two years together.
The little swell of her stomach was just noticeable, but only because he knew it was there and her bare, sun kissed stomach was on full display.
“You’d really do that to our guests?” She rolled her eyes, just to let him know how she felt without saying a word.
She was so damn beautiful it made him sweat a little extra under the dress shirt and dress pants he had on. He reached up and loosened his tie as she shifted the mass of her hair over her shoulder, like she knew what it did to him and wanted to draw any extra attention there that she could. He freaking loved the black mass of her hair. Loved running his fingers through it. Loved caressing it. Loved using it as a set… okay. He cut that thought off there before it was pretty damn obvious to any neighbors that might be on their decks and patios watching them just how he’d managed to put a baby in his fiancé’s belly.
“Well, we could have other options. Like waffles and chicken. Waffles and baked potatoes. Waffles with salad on top. Waffles on top a steak. Just as long as it involves waffles.”
“Are you going to explain to our guests why you
have this waffles fetish?”
“I’ll tell that on our first date we went out for waffles.”
“Will you also tell them how I thought you were someone else and I was on the run from you?”
“I’ll tell them the whole sordid truth if you want.”
“No,” Noemi said hurriedly. “My dad would die if that story came out. Seriously. You can’t.”
He grinned. “So you agree to the waffles then?”
Noemi shifted off the lounger. She sauntered over to him, her beautiful form on full display. He couldn’t tear his eyes from the sway of her hips when she walked or the way that damn bikini top pushed her breasts up, basically right into his face.
He was mighty tempted to give the neighbors an X-rated show, but he knew Noemi would protest to that. They might not be able to keep their hands off each other in every square inch of the house, the car, any random hotel rooms they might be in for business, and other private places, but she liked where they lived. She’d chosen the house. She’d picked out everything and he’d gone along with it just to make her happy.
It didn’t matter that he’d never imagined himself actually living in Italy. Sicily was beautiful. Her dad had a house just down the street. He came over almost every single day for dinner. Every single day he also asked when they were getting married. Every single day they told him soon. Tonight, they’d have something different to tell him. That they’d set a date. That it was also literally going to be one of those shotgun weddings, because Noemi just happened to be almost three months pregnant and really wanted to get the whole wedding thing done so they could just focus on enjoying becoming parents.
“I don’t know. You want waffles, let’s have waffles. I don’t care. Just as long as you’re there and it’s you I’m marrying.”
Byron shook his head. He was a lucky bastard and he knew it. For some reason, beautiful, kind, sweet, amazing Noemi decided to give him another chance. He’d taken her out for waffles. She’d enjoyed them. She wanted to go out again. And again. And okay, maybe there was a little bit of illicit activity in between waffle dates.
Somehow, for some reason that he still didn’t quite fathom, she liked him. She more than liked him.
She loved him.
And he loved her more than his own life.
“It better be me you’re marrying,” he scoffed.
“I just mean if we’re doing this wedding for real, you better show up on time. You’re always late.”
“I wasn’t late that day I found you in the coffee shop. I was there first. Waiting for you.”
“That does not count.” Noemi couldn’t hold her frown in place.
“I’ll make the calls to everyone, if you’re sure that you just want a little ceremony. Just your dad and our close friends. I’ll get it done. Waffles and all. I’ll even pick out a dress for you, though it might not be at all appropriate.”
“I’ll pick out the dress,” she corrected, a soft smile curling over her lips. “You can worry about how to take it off later. We’ll make the calls together. Let’s get it done.”
“Your dad will be so happy we’re no longer living in sin.”
Noemi threw back her head and laughed. “He doesn’t think that.”
“Why does he ask about a wedding every single day then?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess it’s become almost a family joke. He’s excited. He likes having you as a son. He wants to make it official. That’s all.”
“I think that he really wants to know when we’re going to give him grandkids.”
Noemi’s hand rubbed absently at her almost flat stomach. “Yeah. You’re probably right. That’s his code for asking without asking.”
“Next week? Tomorrow? When? Here? At the house? Do you know a good catering company who is willing to make waffles on short order?”
“I don’t care when or where or what we eat. Like I said, the only detail I care about is you. I decided a long time ago that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, horrible as you are.” She winked at him and laughed again.
He joined her. “And I decided that I wanted to spend my life with you, even though you’re a pain in my ass and a constant temptation to do dirty things at all hours of the day with.”
“Hmm. Never heard you complain about that before.”
Byron twined his hand through hers, but she was the one to lead him away from the pool, into the coolness of the house. She shut the patio door behind her and closed the blinds before she looked up at him, her eyes twinkling with playful desire. He was instantly so hard he was pretty sure he could karate chop that deck chair out by the pool completely in half.
“So, almost husband. What dirty deeds can I tempt you into this fine afternoon, since you arrived home from work early?”
“It’s your shoe line. They’re literally selling so well that we don’t have to even work for it. Really, Noemi. You’re too good at this.”
Her smile widened and she winked. “Well then, I’ll ask again. What dirty deeds can I tempt you into?”
He gave his head a shake, still in disbelief that he was with her and that he was the one who got to love her, day in and day out, and that she actually loved his ass back. He was more than happy to answer her.
“What can’t you tempt me into?”
The End
ALPHALICIOUS BILLIONAIRES
The Dating Game
Available in the kindle store HERE
She has no idea I’m just playing a game with her.
That everything I say is a lie.
She thinks I’m a nice guy struggling to make ends meet. If only she knew.
To win, I have to seduce her … and then leave.
But I’m so hooked.
Personality, beauty, curves, she has it all.
I always play to win. But this time if I win, I will lose Big Time.
Married by Mistake
Available in the kindle store HERE
What do you do when you wake up in bed next to an Adonis god with a wedding band on your finger and no recollections of the night before?
And, you sure as hell do not agree to stay married to the Greek God and be his wife!
I mean what if he had a crooked dick or something. There was bound to be a catch, right?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lindsey Hart specializes in sweet to extra hot and dirty romance and strongly believes in happily ever after. If you are looking for a page turner, then you are in for a wild and naughty ride with feisty heroines and alpha male heroes.
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LIST OF BOOKS
Alphalicious Billionaires Series
Married by Mistake
Faking It
Baby Mistake
Seducing My Best Friend
The Dating Game
Claiming Her V-Card
His Runaway Bride
Rules of Love Series
Love Contract
Love Auction
Love Antique
The Box Set
Beastly Love Series
Captivated by The Beast
Beautiful Encounter
A Husband for Beauty
The Box Set
Standalones
A Christmas Proposal
The Roommate: A Sizzling Stepbrother Romance
Jordan
Scars of Love
Free & Wild
Burning Touch
Against His Will
Her Captor
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