Her Premarital Ex (The Alexanders Book 3) Read Free Page A

everyone had
a past – some hidden secrets that they didn’t want anyone to know
about. Even though Tyson’s secrets were the topic of many rumors,
she could see for herself that he was a good man. He’d helped her
get back on her feet and rescued her from his cruel, self-absorbed
cousin. In the process, he’d fallen in love with her, made her his
wife and now, they were sharing breakfast on a most beautiful
day.
    “A penny for your
thoughts,” Tyson said, watching the breeze tackle her hair. The
wind had picked up considerably. A storm was in the forecast for
the evening hours.
Gabrielle smiled. “I was
just thinking about some stuff.” She took a knife and a fork,
sliced open the pastry watching cheese ooze out. Then she collected
a piece on her fork and tasted it. “Mmm,” she mumbled. “Tyson, this
is so good.”
Tyson smiled and began
eating his own meal. Then taking a sip of coffee, he set the cup on
the table and said, “Talk to me, Bri.”
    “Okay, okay. So, I’ve been
thinking about something,” Gabrielle began with garbled words
because she was still eating. “I want to learn the business of
restaurants. That’s what you do...that’s what Padma does, so since
I haven’t mapped out a career path for myself, I was thinking that
maybe I should learn the career of those around me.”
He tilted his head,
looking at her in an intriguing way. She was married to a
millionaire, yet, she still wanted a career? She didn’t need a job.
She didn’t need to do anything but be his wife.
    “What?” she asked when she
noticed he’d stopped eating.
With something akin to a
smirk on his face, he said, “Just curious as to why you want a
career.”
She shrugged. “I always
wanted a career. My father taught me I should work for what I want
and not rely on anyone for anything.”
He frowned. Something
about the way she said that didn’t go over well with him. “Not rely
on anyone?” he said, borderline offended. “I’m your
husband.”
    “I know that,
but—”
    “But you don’t want to
rely on me.”
    “Tyson—”
    “If you can’t rely on me,
Gabrielle, who are you going to rely on?”
    “Okay, wait...I think
we’re getting off track here. I don’t want to argue, Tyson. I
just—”
    “Want a career...” he
finished saying for her.
    “Yes, and I’ve been
thinking about one day opening a bakery. Do you realize that there
are only three bakeries in Nags Head, and they don’t make the kind
of things you make?”
    “Yes, I realized that,
actually,” he said, feeling his frustration mount. “Do you realize
that my annual salary for the last five years have topped fifteen
million dollars?”
Gabrielle sighed. She
could read between the lines, of what he was trying to say without
actually having to say it. “Tyson, just hear me out.
Please?”
He took a sip of
coffee.
    She continued, “So these
existing bakeries are just the powdered and glazed doughnut types.
Opening a bakery and making the things you make will be a complete
change to the traditional bakery, and having one on this side of the
Outer Banks would be a plus, which leads me to this...um...Padma
and Lalita are going to a restaurant seminar in Chicago this
weekend and I want to go with them.”
Tyson tried his best to
hide the frown in his forehead, but it came through as bright as
the morning sun.
    “You don’t like the idea,”
Gabrielle said.
    “You know I have to be in
Atlanta this weekend. Remember the discussion I had with you about
some new kitchen equipment I’m trying out there before I roll them
out to the other restaurants?”
    “Yes.”
    “That’s this
weekend.”
    “Well, you could go there,
and I will go to Chicago with Padma and Lalita.”
    “Absolutely
not.”
Gabrielle grinned. She
thought Tyson was joking at first, but when she watched the frown
deepen in his forehead, she knew he was serious. “Why
not?”
    “Because I don’t want you
going there without me. And why, all of a sudden, do you want