Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 145231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 726(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Will he still call me beautiful then if we’re together?
I brush the skin around my eyes. No deep lines there yet, except when I smile, but they’ll be coming soon enough.
Snorting, I drop my hand and reach for my makeup.
Thirty feels like it’s coming fast, but it’s not a death sentence.
If I haven’t made it yet, that’s not a crime.
I haven’t failed.
I have my crap together and I have a wonderful son.
Except, there’s still this burning need inside me for more. Patton fulfills that need beyond my wildest dreams, but I don’t just want to be a rich man’s arm candy, assuming he’s crazy enough to stick around.
At least the makeup brightens my face.
I brush my eyebrows into shape, cover the mole, then apply eyeshadow that brings out the gold in my eyes.
There.
Now I feel prettier with my flaws smoothed out. I curl my hair and leave it hanging loose over my shoulders, wishing I could leave my brain hanging too.
It’s just his family.
Just his filthy rich mother and two driven brothers who eat ambition for lunch.
But you’ve met them before.
Yes. As his employee.
Sweet Jesus, I hate my inner dialogue.
I tighten my fingers around the mascara wand as my phone buzzes on the table beside me. I wrinkle my nose.
Kayla.
Of course it’s her calling right now. Of course she’d interrupt this moment with some invented crisis or a new demand that’s all about her.
For a hot second, I consider declining the call.
She’d message later, though, furious to know what I’m doing that makes me too busy to talk to her. My best friend. My only friend.
She has a real knack for rubbing salt in the wounds and making it feel like a kindness.
It’s also not worth the hassle, so I grab the phone and answer, hoping to keep this brief.
“Hey, Kayla. What’s up?”
“You don’t sound excited to hear from me, Lemmy.” I can almost hear her pouting. “If you didn’t want to take the call, you didn’t have to.”
“Sorry, Kay. I’m just doing my makeup. You know how it is.”
“Oh? You’re wearing makeup?” Her tone changes like she can smell a juicy secret.
“It happens every once in a while.”
“What for? Have you got an event?” She pauses. “Oh my God, is it a date?”
“Nothing important,” I lie. “How was Hawaii?”
It’s the only thing that’s kept her away all this time—a long trip island hopping around the Pacific to distract her from the fact that Patton Rory hasn’t asked about her once.
“Amazing!” she gushes. “Did you see the photos I put on Insta? It was beautiful. So warm and relaxing. The surf was amazing and the turtles were cool. We even did a turtle tour with this lady who had like a cheetah cat. Can you believe that? She barked at me to put down my camera a few times and not to get too close, but still. It slapped.”
I roll my eyes and scrunch my hair, encouraging my curls to stay curled. Maybe I need more hairspray.
“Turtles, huh? Aren’t they a protected species?”
“Ugh, yeah. I wouldn’t have even hurt him with a little pat on the head. But they got all up my ass about how it’s a law there and shit. Crazy, right? They wouldn’t even let people surf by their little roped off beach area.”
My eyes roll right out of my head.
“I thought you didn’t surf?”
“No, but the guys do, and that was fun.”
Guys, plural. Okay. Hopefully that means Patton is already old news in her squirrel brain.
“And how did they hold up?”
“Oh, one guy was definitely a nine, and you know I never say that lightly. He’s Japanese and his dad owns a robot company back in Yokohama. He was so formal. Dude showed up for dinner with flowers.” She giggles.
Thank God. Maybe she’s finally moving on after all.
“Did you guys hook up?”
“Duh.” She snorts. “But he’s not as amazing in bed as you’d think. Some guys think dick and money is all it takes. They’ve got no game. I fell asleep every time he talked about his AI crap and crypto money.”
Well, damn. How disappointing.
“So you’re not seeing him again?”
“Why would I? I told you, he’s from Japan. Talk about long distance.” She uses the same tone she would scolding a child. “Besides, he’s no Patton Rory. I’m saving myself for the best, thank you very much.”
“Kay… you literally just hooked up with another guy.”
“Three guys. You didn’t think I’d spend a month in Hawaii flying solo, did you?”
Yikes.
“What if Patton found out?”
“What if? Okay, look, I know you’re not familiar with this sort of stuff, that’s cool, but guys like Patton, they get who they want, when they want. Like on demand. I bet he hooks up with girls all the time.”
Not true.
I know it isn’t, but the thought that he could makes my skin crawl. I roll my shoulders to shake off that imminent spider feeling.