Bad Swipe Bad Swipe (Billionaire's Club #12) - Elise Faber Page 0,1
feeling less like a Monday Monster and more like an actual human being.
Bagel in the toaster.
Cinnamon cream cheese on the counter.
Plate from the cupboard beside it.
To-go mug open and ready to be filled.
Other mug put in place of the pot and filled with the steaming brew. She took a large sip as her bagel toasted, enough to further chase the Mondays away, and then when it was done, she set about slathering on the cream cheese and doing her level best to replace her blood with the spicy, tangy spread.
It was her absolute favorite.
She bought it by the tub at the local bakery—now bakery chain—Molly’s.
And by the tub, she meant by the double tub, because she always (always!) had a spare container in her fridge.
A girl never knew when she might need a spoonful to chase away the reality of being thirty-five and her longest relationship being with a furry, non-human male who liked to pee on fire hydrants.
Sufficiently caffeinated, she went to pull on a pair of sweats and her tennis shoes then tugged her hair back into a ponytail.
The moment she pulled out the leash, Fred stopped licking his bowl. A walk was the only thing that would convince him to get up because he lived his life alternating between thinking he hadn’t gotten every last drop from his dish and worrying that he would never ever eat again.
“Come on, buddy,” she said as he trotted over, clipping on his leash and reaching for her oversized hoodie.
They’d do a quick turn around the block and then she’d come back and shower, bundle him into the car for doggy day care, take herself to work, and it would be another glorious Monday.
“Joy of joys,” she muttered.
But truthfully, she didn’t mind the walk, didn’t mind the cool morning air on her face, the quiet of the neighborhood. There weren’t many cars on the road at this hour, not with the sun still mostly below the horizon, and it was a peaceful way to start her morning.
Just her and her man.
Smiling when Fred did a little butt wiggle as they moved down the front steps of her condo, she set them on a quick pace as they turned right, looped down through the dew-covered grass in the small park at the end of the street, then back up a block over, before turning onto her street and completing their loop.
His tongue hanging out, Fred sprinted back over to his bowl the moment she opened the door and took off the leash, returning to the business of licking up every last crumb.
Stef flicked the lock and headed into the bathroom to shower.
Was mid-shower with shampoo suds dripping down her spine when the doorbell rang.
She ignored it.
Continued washing her hair.
It rang again.
Sighing, since she’d just slathered conditioner on, she kept the water running—yeah, yeah, she knew about the drought, but also, she knew it would take even more water to warm up her shower since her water heater sucked ass—snagged a towel, wrapped it around her head, grabbed her robe, and made her way to the front door . . . just as the bell rang for a third time.
A glance through the peephole made her want to spin around and head right back into the shower.
But she also knew that the knocking wouldn’t stop.
Not with Jeremy.
Girding her loins, she unlocked and opened the door. “Yes?” she asked, purposefully blocking the opening so he couldn’t just stroll his way into her place. He’d lost that privilege when he’d unceremoniously dumped her months before.
“Where is it?” he snapped, shoving at the door so roughly that she stumbled back a step.
Fred spun around the corner, nails clicking, excitement at seeing a new person—any new person, and especially one who’d occasionally fed him in the past—fueling his barreling. “Wait,” she ordered before he could burst out the front door and take her on a sprint through the neighborhood.
He waited, skidding to a stop.
She grabbed the door, pushed the panel back, returning it to its previous position of only being open a crack. “What are you talking about, Jeremy?”
“I’m asking where it is,” he growled. “And I’m asking where it is right now.”
Water was dripping down her spine. The cool air that had felt good on her face earlier now felt like shit because she was wet from the shower and fucking freezing. “What the hell are you talking about?”
A sharp sigh. “You know.”
Why had she been forced onto this particular merry-go-round so fucking early on a