Leaning just outside the kitchen door, I listened to their bitter mutterings to each other.

“Honestly, those chocolates were okay, at best. They weren’t even that fucking good,” Ritchie said.

“Guys. I swear to God, she’s not just making money through chocolate. There’s no way.” That voice was unmistakably Bree. “She’s definitely doing something shady on the side. She’s probably prostituting herself and her so-called boyfriend is probably some rich guy who only came up here because she said he could like, pee on her later. Or some other fucked up shit.”

Lyssa giggled. “Seriously. Those chocolates sucked ass. I don’t know how you could bring those here and think you’re so much better than us. I could buy that at the grocery store for like, two bucks.”

“Right? Like, good job, you get to live in the city because you’re okay with whoring yourself out. Sorry, girl, but I have standards.”

Ritchie’s laugh sounded like fucking wheezing. “God, I’m glad you guys agree. I knew there was no way any of this was real. And that call from her so-called investor?”

“Bullshit.”

“Total bullshit. She probably made one of her friends call her so she could fake that in front of us to make herself feel better,” Ritchie scoffed. “Fucking pathetic.”

Yeah, that’s it.

Walking into the kitchen, I watched with satisfaction as everyone’s faces went pale.

“Hey!” Bree finally said. “How long have you been there, Mr. Sneaky?”

“Long enough to hear you take your collective insecurities out on my girlfriend.”

They fell quiet. Ritchie scowled. “Look, dude, we didn’t mean it the way you heard it.”

“No, you did, but I get it,” I said. “You’ve got nothing to call your own and the only way to sleep at night is to tell yourself that others cheat their way ahead and your morals are just too high to succeed.” I glanced at Bree for a second before returning my eyes to Ritchie. “Of course, no one with morals takes a loan out in his girlfriend’s name and does nothing to try and pay it back,” I pointed out, satisfied with Ritchie’s dumb, open-mouthed silence. “I mean you dug her a pretty fucking impossible hole to climb out of and she still did, didn’t she?”

I paused for him to answer, not that I thought for a second his dumb mouth would have anything to say. After a good silence, I nodded.

“Yeah, it has to be tough watching the woman you didn’t believe in achieve everything she’s ever dreamed of. I’m sure that’s hard to live with, so you just gotta find some way to discredit her. Right?” I cocked an eyebrow. “I’d probably do the same if I were a piece of shit whose best talent was doubting others. Thank God I’m not or I’m pretty sure she’d have no interest in me, and that would be pretty goddamned depressing.” I let myself grin a bit. “Because in case you don’t remember or never realized, she’s a fucking incredible woman. And I’m taking her home now, so you guys can go ahead and drink to whatever delusions you think of next. Nice meeting you.”

I didn’t wait for a reaction before going downstairs and holding a hand out to Gina. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Gina. I’m sorry to take away the party, but we have to get going.” Turning to Lia, I grabbed her purse and held out my hand. “Come on. We’re leaving.”

Despite looking stunned, Lia nodded, saying a last goodbye to Gina before taking my hand and following me out, no questions asked.

26

LIA

“Don’t worry. I’ll get that box from Ritchie and I’ll ship it to you wrapped in lots of bubble wrap, so nothing breaks,” Dad said as I sat with him in the corner of the living room, both of us watching Lukas chat with Uncle Ted and Aunt Lynn at the dining table, which they’d covered with their “good” tablecloth. It was white linen with embroidery at the scalloped edges. Good Lord, I thought as I watched Uncle Ted and Lukas grinning wide at each other over whatever the heck they were talking about. Probably something embarrassing for me.

“Don’t worry, Dad,” I said quietly. “It’d be nice if you could ship the box, but you don’t have to. It’s probably just old cookware and stuff we used to make chocolates with.”

“If it’s stuff you need to make chocolates for the new… distributor?”

“Yes. Distributor.”

“If it’s stuff you need for that, I’ll drive over there myself and get it right now,” Dad said, sounding a little riled up as he sat forward on his chair, adjusting his glasses. I looked at him with a smile, trying not to laugh at how adorably huge his already-big eyes looked behind those thick lenses.

“It’s really okay, Dad. I don’t need it. The chocolate I’m about to make for the distributor is all getting made in a commercial kitchen. I’ll probably be starting as soon as possible because they’re gonna be big batches. In fact, I’m probably going to need to hire extra hands, which is exciting because it’ll be my first chance to…” I trailed off because Dad was nodding along in the way that he did when he wasn’t listening. I laughed as he pointed curiously at Lukas.

“He have kids?”

“No, why?” I asked, turning to look into the dining room again. My little cousin, Henry, had come around for the tenth time with a new toy to show off to Lukas.

“He’s good at pretending to be interested,” Dad said genuinely. “I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the things Henry shows me. Kid’s cute but I’m just not good at that stuff.” When he frowned down in his lap, we both fell quiet for a bit. “But hey, you know I’m not a very good dad. What do I need to tell you for.”

I took his hand. “Hey. The way we started doesn’t have to be the

Tags: Stella Rhys Irresistible Romance
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