Green (The Safeword Series: Book Three) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) by Ava Claire

Author:Ava Claire [Claire, Ava]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Billionaire Romance, ava claire, billionaire erotic romance, alpha billionaire romance, alpha billionaire, billionaire
Published: 2015-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four: Desmond

Not answering Sophia's texts was one of the hardest things I'd ever done.

Saying those words, admitting that I wasn't the master of the universe, able to handle anything life threw at me without faltering, without difficulty, made me go back and take a hard look at my life.

The first restaurant I'd opened, O'Connell, was a fifties era inspired cafe, complete with neon signage, booths and vintage pieces that the interior designer I'd paid an arm and several legs for assured me would transport the customers to a time where food was simple yet delicious.

Situated in a hip gentrified neighborhood, O’Connell flopped royally. I was fresh out of culinary school, and cocky as hell with investor money burning a hole in my pocket. I believed my name and quality food was all it took to succeed in the restaurant business.

I was wrong...and it cost dozens of people their livelihood. Standing in front of my staff, their eyes hooded, the end inevitable considering the tables were always empty when they should have been filled, it still cut like a knife. Telling them that the restaurant was closing and they were out of a job was like ripping my heart right out of my chest. I promised that they would have a home at any of my future ventures, but I knew how worthless that promise was. Pinning their hopes on that wouldn't pay the bills that were due, or feed their kids or keep a roof over their heads.

And then there was Caity.

The night she ended our engagement and climbed into my mother's car, I had no idea it would be the last time I saw her smile...or my mother's. That call would haunt me for the rest of my life. The emergency responder's voice was soft, practically a whisper compared to my mother wailing in the background. She was repeating how sorry she was, over and over, her words slurred, begging for forgiveness. It took a few moments for me to realize that it was strange for some woman to be calling me on Caity's phone, then I connected 'accident' and 'God, Des I'm so sorry' and my whole world came crashing down. The woman who gave me life, who inspired my love for food, had ripped away the woman I was sure I'd spend the rest of my life with. God only knew how I found the strength to punch in the number to her parent's. Her father answered the phone, a kind man with a laugh that always disarmed me. He was the kind of father I wished I had, who spent his Sunday's watching football and fiercely loved his family. He'd joked that it must be serious, since the last time I'd called him, it was to ask for his permission to marry his daughter. Getting the words out felt like setting my soul on fire, turning all the happiness and hope for the future to ash.

And then there was Sophia. ‘Sin’. In her, I found a passion, a connection that I wasn't looking for, but was impossible to escape.

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