Page 8 of The Enemy's Daughter

Taking a large gulp, he wondered how he was going to work his way into her life. She didn’t trust him, which she really shouldn’t, but still. He wasn’t a fucking monster, and it pissed him off that he was going to have to work at this shit.

There was no choice. He was going to have to step up the charm. As he took a long drink of his whiskey, he glanced around his apartment, and frowned.

What the fuck?

Damn! He’d left his dog in the car. Putting his whiskey down, he took the stairs to the underground parking, and opened up the trunk of the car, and there, curled up, was Buster.

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

He wasn’t a cruel man. Grabbing the comfy blanket, he wrapped it around the body of his new pet, and carried him back upstairs. “What am I going to do with you?”

****

“You need to get laid,” Rebecca said.

Bella frowned. “How is that going to help me?”

“You’re twenty-five, and we both know you can do whatever the hell you want, right?”

“No, I can’t.”

“Your father is loaded, and you’re determined to live as if you’re not even related. I thought you got along with your father.”

“I do.”

“Really? Then why are you interested in finding him a woman?”

“He’s fifty in three months, and with Christmas around the corner, I don’t want him to be lonely.”

“Doesn’t he have one of those trophy wives?”

Rebecca was her friend from high school. They both came from wealthy families. They were a lot alike. Neither of them could cope with spending their life shopping. Rebecca was a professional chef and worked in a high end restaurant. Whenever Bella wanted good food out, she went to Rebecca’s.

“Ew, no. He tried one about five years ago. She was the same age as I am, and believe me, it was gross. She would do this giggling stuff, and pretend that he was the best thing in the world, and yet whenever he touched her, she would recoil. That’s not love.”

“There are a lot of gold-diggers out there.”

“It’s sad of us to think like that about our fellow women.”

“I know, but it’s true. Is it the same word for men? Gold-digger?”

“I don’t know. Hey, guess what?”

“What?”

“That’s not guessing?”

“You’ve finally decided to adopt a pet.”

“No.”

“You’re taking scuba diving lessons?”

“Nope. Would you like me to actually tell you?”

“Sure. I’m not going to be able to guess what is going on in your world.”

“I was asked out on a date. I don’t think you could call it an actual date. He just wanted to say thank you.”

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