King of Wall Street: a sexy, standalone, contemporary romance by Louise Bay Read Free Book Online Page A

You could always talk to your dad.”
    Was she serious? “Why would you even say something like that?” Grace knew I was the only one of his kids not working at JD Stanley, his investment bank. My three half brothers had all started on the graduate course the September after college. I’d thought I’d get the satisfaction of turning him down, but he never asked. Why would Grace think I would call him? I didn’t want anything from him.
    “You do the kind of work his firm needs, right? Don’t you have like a perfect skill set for him?”
    “It doesn’t matter.” Ben and Jerry’s cries from the kitchen were growing louder. “I wouldn’t work for him if he was the last man on Earth. And if you remember, he never offered me a job. I didn’t have the correct reproductive equipment.”
    “He probably didn’t think you wanted it.” It didn’t mean he couldn’t have asked. “He doesn’t know you, doesn’t get how brilliant and ambitious you are. He’s like a hundred years old. He’s probably just old-fashioned.” Was he just from a different generation who thought women should stay at home and look after the kids? If he’d ever gotten to know me, he would know I wasn’t like that.
    “I really can’t believe we’re having this conversation. I’m not about to quit my dream job, and I’m not about to ask my father for anything.” I swung my legs up onto the couch and lay on my back staring at the ceiling. “It’s really starting to upset me that you’re defending him.”
    “I’m really not. I’m just trying to offer you a way out.”
    Grace was always trying to solve my problems. And the problems of all the guys she dated. There just wasn’t anything Grace could do to fix this situation.
    Footsteps thudded across the ceiling, causing my light fixture to rock gently back and forth. Jesus, the last thing I needed was my neighbors going at it again. I didn’t want to be reminded of my lack of sex life.
    “Thank you, but I don’t need a way out. I’m exactly where I want to be.” I wasn’t a quitter.
    “But you’re miserable.”
    “I’m not.” I should complain less. I was just frustrated to find Max in my building. “My standards are just too high.” The thudding upstairs sounded like someone pacing back and forth. “I’m going to readjust, reset, and everything’s going to be just fine.”
    Classical music, Bach maybe, blared from upstairs. It was so loud my apartment started to vibrate. Metalheads or coked-up dance music addicts were supposed to play their music loud and annoy their neighbors, not classical music buffs.
    “Do you have classical music on? Jesus, less than a week in Manhattan and we’re already growing apart.”
    I chuckled. “No, it’s not me. It’s upstairs.”
    “The shaggers?”
    “Yes. Although they’re not shagging. One of them put their concrete boots on and is dancing like an elephant across my ceiling.” The music hadn’t drowned out the consistent pound of footsteps. “I can’t tell if there are two people up there.”
    “Brooklyn looking a little more attractive?” Grace couldn’t hide the smug tinge to her voice.
    “I’m sure the music will die down in a little bit. Maybe they’ve had a bad day and they’re trying to drown it out, like I do with—”
    “Taylor Swift?”
    I shrugged, unembarrassed by my Swift predilection. “I was going to say Stevie Wonder, but Taylor will do.”
    “You’re not pissed off by the noise?”
    Any other day I would be furious, but if I allowed myself to get irritated with my penthouse neighbors, I’d have nothing left. Work was so disappointing it left me hollow inside. All my excitement about the job had dissolved, and it had become just like my college bartending job—a means to an end. And now with Max in the building, the only place I felt safe was behind my front door. Surely my neighbors would stop pacing and turn down their music soon.
    “Tell me about your date?” I asked. “That’s why I