Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Sexy shenanigans meant serious complications.
Not that she was thinking about anything of the kind. God, it’d be embarrassing if Danny read her mind and caught her thoughts. He’d probably end up on the floor, laughing his head off at the idea of the two of them in a clinch.
The image should’ve made her angry, but it had her smiling instead. The idiot had a great laugh.
“Have you finished painting your face?” he yelled from the living room. “How much stuff do you need to put on there?”
“As much as I want!” Catie had, however, long gotten over her caked-on-is-the-best stage. The photos of her and Laveni’s “glam” looks from their teenage years made her grin now.
Poor Veni, subjected to Catie’s then-questionable skills.
As it was, Catie was also used to being photographed bare-faced—it wasn’t like she wore makeup while running. Some sportspeople liked a bit when competing—Posey, for one, had been all about the mascara and the false eyelashes and she’d rocked it to the point that she was a spokeswoman for a makeup brand.
But Catie stuck with moisturizer that had good sun protection, her face otherwise naked and her hair pulled back in a ponytail. About as basic as it could get. But off the track? Oh, she loved makeup as much as she had as a teen.
“Is it safe to come in?” A masculine shout from outside her bedroom door.
“Yes!”
The next thing she heard was her bed giving a startled creak as a big male body flopped down on it. Shifting to glance over her shoulder, through the open door of the en suite bathroom, she found Danny lying shoeless and jacketless on the bed, his hands linked behind his head and his white dress shirt stretched over his chest.
Right on cue, that thing in her body that was acting up? It let out a “whoa” because Danny looked good in her bed. Damn good.
Forcing herself to turn back to the mirror, she put down her eyeliner brush. At least then she could ignore the fact her hand was trembling. She couldn’t, however, ignore Danny—he was visible in the mirror.
“You’re not even dressed,” he said, squinting suspiciously at her fluffy white bathrobe.
“I don’t want to get makeup on my outfit. It’s not like it’s a dress I have to get over my head.”
Nothing for a while as she did a few touch-ups on the rest of her face.
“Huh, it’s like surgery but with makeup.” He sounded fascinated. “You did something with your cheekbones that made them all…” A frown she could all but hear. “Sharper, I guess? More like knives that will cut me if I look at you wrong.”
Her shoulders shook, her grin creasing her cheeks. “Good. That was the look I was aiming for.” She picked up the lipstick she’d chosen to pair with the pantsuit. A deep, blue-based berry red, it was the focal point of her whole look.
“How’s this?” she said after putting it on, then turning around to show him.
“You look like a badass sorceress.” Angling his head, he took a second look. “Yeah, you’d definitely cut a man who got out of line with you.”
She knew, coming from him, that was a compliment. His mother might be a homemaker first and foremost, but Alison was one tough woman. Danny appreciated power in a woman. Which was why she didn’t get one thing. “There’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you.”
“Yeah?”
“Why did you date that string of gigglers? You know, the ones who were all, ‘oh Danny, you’re so sweet, just the best,’ giggle giggle.”
Danny groaned, one hand over his eyes.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she added, “I have nothing against women being giggly bunnies.” Catie’s view was that the world should just let women do their thing whether that was slow or hard, giggly or staunch. “I just never saw you being inclined that way.”
Dropping his hand, he grimaced. “It was a phase, okay? I wondered what I was missing when all my mates were heading in that direction—let’s just say my FOMO did not end well and never again mention the subject.” Before she could razz him about that, he pinned her with a sharp gaze. “What about you?”
“What about me?” She turned to the mirror to fine-tune her lipstick with a lipstick brush.
“That puffed-up bodybuilder you got with after dumping Ward the Dickwad,” he said, purposefully drawing out the insult so it rhymed with Ward’s name. “If he has two brain cells to rub together, I’m Albert Einstein.”
Scowling, Catie resisted the temptation to shoot back a snarky response. Fair was fair. He’d been honest with her. “Brax is really nice. You’d like him.”
When Danny made a choking noise, she hunched her shoulders up to her ears. “He’s so nice I couldn’t say no when he asked me out.” Even though she’d known they wouldn’t suit. Brax had agreed with every one of her opinions no matter if it was about food or politics or sports.