Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
I gave him a nod. “Thanks for letting me know,” I replied.
He cleared his throat, then shuffled his feet nervously. “Yeah, uh, and I was wondering … I mean, I’ve noticed you because you’re hard not to notice. I mean, that is, I … would you like to have dinner with me sometime? Or maybe drinks? Coffee? I’m Gavin, by the way.”
Oh. Wow. He was asking me out. Okay, um … did I want to go out with him? He was attractive. He had a good job, it seemed.
My last date had been at least two years ago. It was incredibly boring. He’d talked about his football years in college, and he’d been thirty-two.
“Drinks sound nice, and I’m Brielle,” I replied before I could talk myself out of it. I wasn’t going to agree to dinner in case this date was a bomb too. Shorter the commitment, the quicker I could escape.
He grinned at me then, and I realized he had a great smile. I hadn’t paid much attention to it before.
“Yeah, I know. I heard your neighbor call you by name the first night I saw you,” he replied. “I’m off tomorrow. That too soon?”
He had remembered my name. That was nice.
“Tomorrow sounds good,” I replied.
“Seven? Or earlier? Later?” he asked.
“Seven is fine,” I told him since I would probably eat at five thirty.
“Great. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
I paused at that. I wasn’t sure I was ready to get in the car with a man I didn’t know.
“Can I meet you there?” I asked him.
He nodded. “Yeah, of course,” he said. “I should have asked if you wanted to do that. Sorry. Carmines is right around the corner. You wouldn’t have to go far. Is that good, or do you have another suggestion?” he asked.
I knew Carmines well. They had excellent red velvet cupcakes.
“Carmines works for me.”
“Great. Well, okay. I’ll, uh, see you then. If not before. Since”—he nodded his head toward the hallway—“I’ll be working out here the rest of the day.”
“Yeah, likely to see you at least once more today,” I told him.
I started to tell him bye and close the door when another voice stopped me.
“Brielle, what do you think of a very light blue for the walls? Brighten the place up a bit. This green is too fucking dark,” Dean’s smooth, deep voice asked, causing Gavin’s head to swing around in that direction.
His cap and sunglasses were gone as he stood there, looking up at the ceiling fixtures that were twenty years out of date. “Those need to go too,” he said.
I said nothing because it dawned on me that he now knew my apartment number. Although he did own the place and could have just looked into the files. Or maybe he already had, and that was why he was here.
“Whatever color you choose should be fine, Mr. Finlay,” I replied.
“Holy shit,” Gavin muttered under his breath.
He must not have known who he was working for. He was standing there with his mouth hanging open, clearly in shock. I wanted to tell him not to waste his excitement on the man.
Dean lifted one corner of his mouth in a half-smile. “Come on now, Brielle. You live here. You’ve got to have an opinion.”
“Light blue sounds great,” I said. “I need to be going,” I added and looked back at Gavin to tell him good-bye, but he was focused on Dean, who had yet to acknowledge him.
As I started to close my door, I heard Dean chuckle. Why did his laugh have to be sexy? He had all the fame and money in the world. He was still a worldwide heartthrob in his fifties. Couldn’t his laugh at least be annoying?
I walked away from the door, not wanting to hear their voices, and headed to the bathroom to get a shower. Clara was coming over tonight, bringing tacos from our favorite food truck in West Beach, and we were going to watch a movie. She’d wanted to go out, but I’d refused to do that again this soon. The day after Cam had left, we had gone out, and I had hated it. Clara had settled for a man-free evening here.
I just hoped Dean Finlay kept his ass upstairs, where he belonged. I didn’t intend for Clara to find out he lived here. She would want more than an autograph. Cam had wanted his autograph, but I failed him on that part. After Dean was a complete jerk from the moment he opened his mouth, I couldn’t ask him for anything that day. Why I had expected something more from Dean, I didn’t know. He was who he was.
I loved my son, but he’d just have to live without getting that autograph. There was no way I was feeding that man’s already-massive ego.
Once, I had wanted nothing more than to see Slacker Demon in concert. My boyfriend had gotten me a ticket to their concert, and I snuck out of my foster family’s house to meet him there since he hadn’t shown up to get me. When I arrived, I found out he’d been hooking up with my best friend, and he’d apparently given my ticket to her. That night set the course for my life, and I hadn’t even known it. One month later, I turned eighteen and was kicked out of my foster home. It was also the morning I’d missed my period.