Seduced by the Baron (The Fairy Tales of New York Book 4) by Amy Andrews Read Free Book Online

going on between you two?”
    Faith sipped at her beer. “You know he was just pitching his beer.”
    Mercy picked up the tie. “Really?”
    Zel looked just as doubtful as she sucked on her virgin mojito. Sully’s didn’t do fancy cocktails but they made an exception for Zel, a recovering alcoholic. Faith had always felt uneasy about holding the girls’ night in the pub but Zel had assured her that being around booze was all just part of her recovery.
    Faith grabbed the tie and stuffed it in her jeans pocket where his business card sat. “Nothing is going to happen with Rafael Quartermaine,” she said.
    Dawn frowned. “Why not?”
    “Because he’s…gorgeous and…our lives are too different and…he lives on the other side of the planet.”
    “ Jay -sus,” Zel said, doing her very best impression of Pop going the full Irish, “We’re not talking about marrying the guy. We’re talking about wild, getting-your-hair-in-a-tangle monkey sex.”
    A funny little pang that felt a lot like regret twinged somewhere in the region of her heart. Marrying? Of course not. She was the perennial bridesmaid, right?
    “I don’t have time for any of that stuff,” she muttered.
    Zel arched an eyebrow. “Don’t have time for sex ?”
    If Faith hadn’t felt so exasperated she’d have laughed at the look of askance on Zelda’s face. “I’m here all the hours God gave me.”
    “You deserve a life too, Faith,” Mercy said gently.
    The pub was Faith’s life. And she was fine with that . Or had been, anyway. She’d taken it on because she’d been the most logical one to do so after her father’s first heart attack. With her brothers all in varying stages of college or starting in their careers and hers not begun yet it had made sense.
    And she’d wanted to. She’d voluntarily stepped into the shoes her mother had vacated because she loved her father and the pub and she couldn’t bear the thought of him being lonely as well as sad.
    He’d been so sad after her mom’s death.
    “What ever happened to your fine arts degree at Columbia?” Zel asked.
    “You know what happened,” Faith muttered. “Pop had his first heart attack. I was needed here.”
    “Yes, but Faith…” Mercy reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “It’s been years.”
    “I’ll get to it one day,” she said defensively.
    Although of course, she’d been saying that for years too. They all had. But eventually they’d stopped saying it and everyone – including her  – had forgotten she’d ever had any ambitions of her own.
    “Do you still sketch and paint?” Dawn inquired.
    It was on the tip of Faith’s tongue to tell them she’d spent two hours drawing Raf’s arms last night just to get them off her case but she didn’t think that would work in her favor. “Sometimes.”
    She took her sketch pad to Central Park occasionally.
    “I remember when you used to doodle on anything and everything,” Mercy mused. “You didn’t even know you were doing it half the time.”
    Faith nodded. She hadn’t done that in a very long time. “Do you still have your membership to the Met?” Zel asked.
    “Yes.” Her precious membership to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was something they’d have to tear from her cold, dead hands.
    Zel arched an eyebrow. “And how often do you use it?”
    Faith stalled. Rarely. Too long since she’d visited her favorite Monets. “It’s…been a while,” she admitted.
    “And how long has it been since you’ve been with a guy?” Dawn asked.
    “Longer,” she admitted miserably.
    “Well that won’t do,” Mercy tutted.
    “It’s only sex. I won’t die from lack of it.”
    “But you do like sex, right?” Dawn asked. “You do want to have it again, don’t you?”
    Before yesterday Faith might not have been clear on the answer but Raf had reignited something inside her. She wanted to have sex with him so freaking bad. “Yes.”
    “So why not him?” Dawn persisted. “He’s hot and let