SOAR (The Indigo Lounge Series Book 4) by Zara Cox Read Free Book Online Page B

parts of
the bistro.
    “Hey,
Red. You’re closing?” he asked when he saw the stacked chairs on top of tables.
    She
raised an eyebrow. “It’s nearly midnight, buddy, I’ve been shut for over an
hour, and I have to be up in four hours to open up again.”
    Leia
entered, and he heard her footsteps slow. Red looked from her to him, a
question on her face.
    “Can
I trouble you for two of your best coffees? If you need to go, I’ll make sure
the place is locked up tight before we leave.”
    “Firstly,
all of my coffees are my best. And secondly, you own a huge chunk of this place,
so you don’t have to reassure me that you’ll secure it.” Again, her shrewd eyes
darted to Leia and back to him. “Two coffees, extra-large, coming right up.”
    “Can
you throw in a bottle of water, too? Thanks.”
    He
knew his smile missed its target by a mile. Red nodded anyway and set up a
table by the middle set of French doors that led to a wooden deck, which served
as an extra seating space during opening hours. Beyond the doors, the waters of
the marina glinted under the lights strung up along the walkway.
    When
Red walked away to get their coffees, he pulled out the nearest chair for Leia
and took the seat opposite. “Sit.”
    She
sat, her arms resting on the table between them. Tense silence stretched,
broken by the hissing of the industrial-sized coffee machine Red had switched
on.
    Eventually,
Leia cleared her throat. “So, you part own this place?”
    Noah
nodded.
    “I
thought your investments were much larger and riskier than a bistro?”
    “Red
and I…we have a little history,” he replied, and shrugged. “But sentiment
aside, this is still a good business that earns a healthy profit.”
    Red
had left her birthplace of New York under a cloud, just like him. An
ex-attorney with a client base that included senators, media moguls and rock
stars, she’d wielded more power than some people deemed wise. A couple of
people had done something about it. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that his kinship
with her past had been the drawing power for him choosing to invest in her
business.
    “How
far back do you two go?” Leia asked.
    He
watched her fingers playing over the hair above her ear. He gritted his teeth.
“You want to make small talk, here’s a question for you. I seem to be missing a
T-shirt. You know anything about that?”
    A
guilty blush crept over her face and leaked down her neck. “I…I didn’t think
you would miss it.”
    “You
thought wrong. I’m aware that we weren’t together long enough for you to know
that it’s more than just a T-shirt to me. Maybe if you’d stuck around, you
would’ve found out. Or maybe I should be counting my lucky stars that I got a
clean escape.”
    Her
flinch made his jaw clench harder. “A clean escape?”
    “You’ve
proved so far that not only are you a faithless liar, you’re also a nifty
little thief.”
    She
glared at him. “I’m neither of those things! I realize you’re upset—”
    He
laughed.
    She
glared harder and raised her chin in cute defiance.
    Noah
shook his head. “You realize I’m upset ? Why would I be upset? You had a
chance to be mine. You promised me you were mine, but you walked away
the moment things got a little sticky. Well, now I’m free to fuck any woman I
choose. Hu-the-fucking-ray to me.” He looked at his watch. “In fact, there’s a
little club I know not far from here. Once we’re done with our little chat, I
might swing by, find a willing, baggage-free, piece of ass for the
night. While you’re lying in your cold, faithless bed, you can think about me,
pounding my cock into another woman’s pussy, making her scream as loud as you
did—”
    “Stop!”
    “Is
that too much for you, baby?” he asked softly.
    “You
don’t need to be an asshole, Noah.” The plea was laced with anger. Looking
down, he saw her nails digging into her palm.
    Good.
    He
smiled. “This was never going to be pretty, baby. I don’t play fair and I