Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“I’d like that,” I admitted, “very much.”
“Consider it done then,” he said as he looked down at his phone again. We’d just reached the restaurant, and he froze in place. “Would you get us a table? I have to take a quick call.”
My eyebrows rose. “Everything all right?”
“We’ll find out.”
Then he turned and walked off. I frowned in confusion and wondered what that was all about. But I stepped inside to the busy café and gave them the Percy name. I was seated in minutes despite the crowd outside. Benefits of being longtime customers, and… well, the Percy name opened doors.
I perused the menu, debating between a salad and a sandwich. I didn’t really need the bread. But I had been trying to be better ever since Camden asked me last weekend if I was sick again. I didn’t feel sick. Though I hadn’t felt sick when I was hospitalized. I’d stopped shedding weight, and Rodrigo thought that I was finally starting to build up muscle mass, which was something I’d never been able to achieve. Maybe a sandwich would be fine.
Then I looked around the room and saw all the waiflike models and fashion people in the café. Every one of them was eating one of the dozen salads on the menu. It was our job to stay thin… and Elizabeth had suggested I could walk for her. It’d been years since I even considered it.
I worried at my lip indecisively when the waiter came over with waters. He looked frazzled. This place wasn’t normally this busy.
“I’ll take a half caprese sandwich and a side Caesar salad.” Best of both worlds. “Camden will have his usual.”
His eyes lit up. “Oh, Percy. Yes, excellent.” He scooped up the menus. “I will get everything covered.”
I sat back in my seat and checked my messages and responded to followers until Camden returned. He dropped into his seat, looking furious.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, setting my phone aside.
“Remember the Ireland deal that I had that fell through?”
“Of course.”
“And my father said that they didn’t want to work with me?”
“Right. Which sounded like bullshit.”
He sighed heavily and dragged a hand down his face. “Turns out, it was bullshit. I decided to send a follow-up email to them. Just a standard thanks for working with us, let us know if you change your mind, I’d be happy to discuss options with you. That sort of thing.”
“And they just responded?”
He nodded. “They didn’t want to work with my father,” he ground out. “And the bastard lied and turned it around on me, to make it look like I’d lost the deal instead of him.”
“God, he’s such an asshole,” I snapped.
“That he is.”
“So… the deal is still on?”
“They want to come into New York next week to finalize negotiations… without my father present. But then, yeah, it looks like we’ll have a Percy Tower in Dublin, and I’ll close the deal.”
“Camden, that’s incredible,” I gushed.
But he didn’t look pleased. He was a mix of pissed off and resigned. “Tell that to my father.”
“He’ll understand.”
Camden shook his head. “He won’t, but I’ll have to find a way to tell him.”
“Maybe… just surprise him.”
“That would go over well,” he said sarcastically.
I reached across the table and took his hand. “You’re a better man than your father. And certainly better than he gives you credit for.”
“Thank you.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my hand.
I pulled back as our food arrived. My stomach growled slightly. I hadn’t had that big of a breakfast, and all the running around had made me hungry.
“You got a sandwich,” Camden said softly.
“Well, a half-sandwich,” I said, picking it up and taking a small bite.
He smiled to himself and then dug into his Italian sandwich without another word. And I knew that this was a win. For me and for us.
31
Katherine
The Percy limo pulled up in front of the towering Greco-revival facade of Cipriani Wall Street. For dozens and dozens of events, I’d shown up in this limousine with a parade of my friends in tow—all in coordinating outfits and happily drunk by the time we arrived.
Today was different.
Today, Camden Percy stepped out of the limo first. He reached back, offering me his hand, and I took it. Then I stepped out onto the red carpet with my husband at my side. It felt monumental in that moment. Something that would feel so ordinary to most couples, but we weren’t most couples. We weren’t really like anyone else. An arranged marriage was strange enough. Though it had worked for us. Until now… when it didn’t work anymore because this was more than just an arrangement. It was more than me marrying him for his money. This was me putting my heart back out on the line.
The train of my red silk Alexandre D’Oria gown trailed behind me as my husband walked me down the red carpet in a tuxedo. He looked calm, confident, and dominating. My perfect match.