AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We have transportation waiting,” he said.
“Fine. Go on your way. Don’t let me hold you back.”
“We’re going to drop you off.”
“No, you’re not.”
He placed her phone back in his breast pocket. She shot up from her seat, ready to pummel him with a pillow when the flight attendant came up to her.
“You feel better, miss?”
She swallowed her rage. “Uh, yes, thank you,” she said hoarsely.
She stepped aside to make way for Kaia who needed to deplane first. As she gathered her things and made sure nothing had fallen out of her purse, Roth walked out with Johan and Mo on his heels, leaving her with Sarai who hefted a large work bag over her shoulder.
The smirk on the other woman’s face caught her eye. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.”
“Jasmine!”
Roth’s shout set her teeth on edge. Sarai’s smirk turned into a full-blown smile that pissed her off. She shot Sarai a scathing look before she walked off the plane to find two Bentleys waiting for them. She ignored the car Roth stood next to and tried to board the one with Kaia, Johan, and her nurse, but Sarai took the last seat.
“Jasmine, let’s go,” Roth said impatiently.
She stalked up to him as the other car pulled away. “Give me my phone now.”
“Get in.”
“Ms. Hennessy?”
She broke the staring contest with Roth to find Mo holding the back door open for her. Fine. The faster she got in, the quicker she would get home and away from him once and for all. She settled in the back and sank into the buttery leather seats as Mo got behind the wheel. She was about to relax when Roth got into the back seat with her.
“Sit in the front,” she ordered.
He ignored her and answered his phone. At least there was a massive console between them. She was tempted to turn on the TV on the back of Mo’s seat, but she was too tired to fiddle with the buttons.
This was the longest one-night stand in history. She closed her eyes and tried to block him out. Not much longer… They hit traffic (no surprise), and when Mo asked for her address, she glanced at Roth who was on his third call. She gave it reluctantly. Her leg began to bounce as they neared her Chelsea apartment. If they could make it a little farther, she could hop out of the car and walk the last few blocks…
Her phone landed in her lap. She glanced at Roth who seemed to be absorbed in his call. She unlocked her phone and saw that she had forty-two voicemails, over one hundred missed calls, and two hundred unread texts.Fuck. She checked Lyle’s message first. He told her they would be expecting her in two hours. She glanced at the barely moving traffic and shrugged. She’d arrive when she arrived. Her next message was to Sunny to let her know she’d be at her apartment in thirty minutes and would need transportation to Midtown, where both of her sisters lived.
The bulk of her messages were from college friends or former acquaintances who were offering their condolences on her father’s passing and asking how she was doing. She didn’t answer because their act of sympathy was a ploy to get inside information on her father’s trust, which she and her sisters had been mum about. The public’s speculation about how Maximus had divided his billion-dollar fortune between his three daughters made her sick, so she hadn’t read a paper or been on social media since her father went into the hospital. Vigilant security kept most of the invasive paparazzi at bay, but that didn’t stop them from shouting offensive questions at her when they could. She had been dubbed the scandalous, wild Hennessy. She didn’t have a sex tape but breaking off her engagement with Ford Baldwin for a virtual unknown had amounted to the same thing. Despite her master’s degree in business, everyone assumed she was an airhead, and no one wanted to see her join her sisters at Hennessy & Co. Not that she cared. She knew what she gave up rights to seven years ago and was content with the path she had chosen. Everyone assumed she lived off her father because no one knew she had a writing career or that she was quite successful in her chosen field.
Roth’s low rumble was getting on her nerves. When she cracked the window, noisy honking, people shouting at one another on the sidewalks, and construction site jackhammering instantly greeted her. She relaxed a little. They weren’t in a remote cabin in the mountains any longer, and she wasn’t dependent on him because Mother Nature decided to blow her icy rage across the state or because he had knowledge of generators when she didn’t. No. They were back in the city where there were cabs, stores, and witnesses if he tried anything. Not that he would. He was back to work the moment they landed. He was in his element—wheeling and dealing—just like her father.
When Mo pulled up to the sidewalk in front of her apartment building, she sprang out of the Bentley. She was so relieved, she wanted to grab one of the stranger’s speed walking past and give them a hug. Mo pulled her suitcases from the trunk and set it on the sidewalk. She wasn’t pleased when Roth emerged from the back seat.
“I got it!” she said as she reached for her things.
Roth slung the duffel over one shoulder and grasped the handle of her blush-colored suitcase.
“I don’t need your help,” she said and tried to pull the duffel from his shoulder.
He pried her hand from the strap and towed her toward the building.
“I swear to God, Roth, I’m going to—”
She broke off as three men lounging against the wall ran forward with cameras. Oh, fuck. She turned her face away and heard car horns blast. Two more men ran across the street into traffic with their cameras held aloft, desperate to get a shot.
