Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Is this really the right thing to be doing? I can’t help but thinking as we walk toward the club.
“So Mel tells me you’ve never really had a boyfriend before, is that right?” he asks.
“Um, yeah, that’s kinda right…” I look up at Ryan and Mel talking to the door guy who I guess is his friend who will be letting us in. “My dad was always just really strict, ya know? Never let me out to date until after I graduated.”
“Ah, yeah, I see.” Josh nods.
Why did I just say that? Of all the stupid reasons I could come up with, I make up a lie about a dad who left when I was seven stopping me from dating?
Good one, Ali.
Ryan and his buddy wave us over, and we all head inside.
I immediately feel out of place and glance over at Mel. Of course we’re too young to be here, which goes without saying, but on top of that, there’s the clientele, which looks like a bunch of 30-something-year-old entrepreneurs and wannabe business owners. Not at all the kind of crowd Mel would typically drag me out to hang out with or set her sights on.
“What the hell are we doing here?” I shout to her over the blaring roar of the music.
“What do you mean?” she yells back.
“I said what are we doing here?”
“Having fun!” she screams into my ear. “You want a drink?”
I shrug, and she and Ryan go off to the bar, leaving me alone with Josh, who takes me by both hands and starts, to my horror, trying to dance with me.
“I don’t really dance!” I shout to him.
“Oh, come on,” he laughs. “Mel tells me you’re a great dancer!”
“No, really I—” But as I’m starting to protest, I see something over Josh’s shoulder that completely freezes me like I’ve been hit by a paralytic.
The word “shock” doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling that runs through me. I’m so completely unprepared for what I see that it’s like I’ve been transported into a complete alternate dimension. It’s like my brain does a full reset, and I take a few seconds just to remember who and where I actually am at the moment.
Standing at the corner of the bar, wearing a charcoal gray suit with a white T-shirt underneath and casually chatting with another man in a black suit, is Zander.
In his right hand, he’s holding a glass with some kind of brown drink in it. Our eyes meet, and he stops whatever he’s saying mid-sentence. His lips twist into a grin, and he nods ever so slightly, like we’re making some kind of connection.
Oh. My. God.
And now I realize why Mel chose this bar tonight.
This was no accident. Somehow she knew Zander would be here tonight, and she brought me here specifically so I’d run into him.
I glance over at the bar and see her looking over at me, grinning devilishly. Yeah, this was all part of her master plan.
If I could shoot her right now, I would.
“Hey there, little lady.” I turn back and see Zander a foot away, hands in his pockets, grinning like a skull at me, paying absolutely no attention to Josh, who is still holding on to one of my hands.
“Little lady?” I grimace. “What are you, a cowboy?”
Zander chuckles and shrugs. “Why not? Women like cowboys, don’t they?”
“I wouldn’t know what women like. I’m a woman. I only know what I like.”
It’s annoying how ridiculously handsome he looks standing there so casually in his suit in the middle of the club with the lights pouring down on him, spotlighting him like he’s the main attraction.
He’s absolutely magnetizing. It’s like the whole club revolves around as he just does nothing but stare at me. I should still be angry with this man, so why do I feel this unexplainable pull between us?
“Which is clearly me,” he remarks in the most obnoxious way possible.
“Oh, clearly,” I reply with as much sarcasm as I can muster. “Speaking of which, where’s your model girlfriend?”
“Oh, her?” he smirks.
“Yeah her.”
“I wasn’t that into her.” Zander shrugs. “Just needed her as arm candy for a business dinner. You know, the one you refused to make reservations for me for?”
“Excuse me,” Josh chimes in. “Do you mind, pal? This is actually my date.”
“Josh, it’s okay—” I start to say, but Zander leans right in and snatches my hands away from him.
“Actually, yes. I do mind,” he says as he pulls me away. “I’m not sure how you ended up here with her tonight, buddy, but it was clearly a mistake. This girl’s taken.”
I almost feel bad leaving Josh as Zander leads me across the dance floor, past the bar, and toward a back door, but it’s like I just can’t help myself. It’s like my body is on autopilot, and all I can do is put one foot in front of the other and follow my new boss through a padded red velvet door and into a dimly lit back hall.