September: Calendar Girl Book 9 by Audrey Carlan Read Free Book Online Page A

kept woman. Blaine had offered me the world—jewels, a penthouse apartment overlooking the strip. The works. Said I wouldn’t have to worry about anything but looking beautiful and taking care of my man. At the time, it had sounded like one helluva deal. Plus, the bonus was that he’d offered to pay for Maddy’s college education if I agreed to be his wife.
    Being so young, I needed to think about it. On the one hand, it afforded me a way out of one living hell, but could promptly put me smack dab into another. I knew he wasn’t just a businessman. I’d seen the clandestine meetings, the strange need for bodyguards all the time. People we’d meet in the casinos or along the street knew him, or knew of him, and what they knew put a look of fear into their eyes—one that couldn’t be hidden. That never sat right with me. It was only later, after I’d found him balls-deep in his receptionist’s snatch and mouth sampling the wares of her twin sister’s nasty pussy that I found out what his main business really was. When he’d told me he was in the lending business, it wasn’t for a local brokerage or banking firm. It was a whole different kind of lending where, if you didn’t pay up on time with interest, you took a plunge off a pier into shark-infested waters wearing concrete shoes.
    That was the type of man Blaine Pintero really was, and I had the lucky job of dealing with his bullshit because he’d fucked over my dad and me in the process.
    To: Blaine Douchebag Pintero
    From: Mia Saunders
    Can’t. My father is dying. Name your terms.
    To: Mia Saunders
    From: Blaine Douchebag Pintero
    I don’t negotiate in writing. Dinner. Our place. Don’t defy me. You’ll regret it.
    What was he going to do that hadn’t already made me wish I were dead? Hurt my father more? Besides, he had gotten six hundred thousand dollars from me already. I’d proven the wait would be worth it. I did some quick math in my head and put my fingers to work, praying he’d take the bait. The sick feeling in my stomach was not helping. I needed to eat something more than a package of leftover saltines from Max’s club sandwich from yesterday if I was going to deal with douchebags like Blaine.

    T o : Blaine Douchebag Pintero
    From: Mia Saunders
    No. You’ll receive the next payment end of October with 5% interest. That’s all I can give.
    I read it several times and then hit send. I sat, clutching the phone, waiting for the little sign to pop up that he’d seen it. And then I prayed. Hard. Let him accept the deal. Just give me this one get out of jail free card.
    To: Mia Saunders
    From: Blaine Douchebag Pintero
    That’s two missed payments. I’m sorry, pretty Mia, you give me what I want and meet me for dinner Friday night, or there will be hell to pay.
    Fuck! I can’t win for losing. A door slamming against the doorframe startled me out of my reverie. Maxwell’s large frame entered my room.
    “Hey, your father’s doing better!” he said with triumph and joy coloring his words. His chest was jerking back and forth as if he’d run the hundred-yard dash.
    I stood up fast and then caught myself as a wave of dizziness overcame me. Bright little stars dotted my vision as I blinked rapidly. “What happened?” Once I got my bearings, I walked over to him, and together we made our way out of the hotel room, down the elevator, and across the street.
    “Don’t really know. The doc just said they were going to take him off the respirator. Apparently, he’s breathing on his own.”
    Stopping in the middle of the crosswalk on a very busy Vegas street was not a good idea, but that didn’t stop me from doing it, so taken I was by his statement. The wave of relief that hit me was all encompassing, like a tsunami, controlling all thought and halting my ability to move forward.
    Max chuckled and looped an arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Sis. Let’s go check on your dad and see what else the doc has to say.”
    When we entered the