Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“Oh man. I miss making out,” Chloe whined.
“I can help you out with that,” a young man shouted from behind Tallulah.
Chloe waved both hands at him. “Trust me, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. I am a huge problem.”
“What about you?” Tallulah looked over her shoulder to find a backward ball capped frat boy grinning at her. “Need any help making out? I happen to be available.”
“Rain check,” Tallulah responded, facing Chloe again with a scoff, the quick head movement making her vision swim just a tad. Yup. This was definitely her last drink. “You’re not a problem. Why would you say that?”
Tallulah’s friend went up on her toes, craning her neck to see over the top of the crowd toward the club entrance. “Oh, you’ll see.”
“Cryptic.”
Chloe dropped back down. “I’m so glad we did this.” She gripped Tallulah’s arm. “Thank you for not holding my part in the whole seven hundred dollar rent deception against me. If I’d been given more than a few hours to prepare, I would have realized it was a girl code violation.”
“Please, stop apologizing.” Tallulah squinted an eye. “To be honest, it was kind of satisfying to see straight through Burgess’s plan in point eight seconds.”
“Did you rip him a new one?”
“Oh. You bet I did.” Tallulah took a quick sip of her drink and set it down where she could see it, keeping it within the circle of her hand. “Well . . . not really. But I was very sarcastic.”
“Sarcasm can cut deep. Very deep.”
“Right? I know.”
“People underestimate its power.”
“It occurs to me that we’re a little drunk, Chloe.”
“I’m so drunk.” They shared a laugh. “So you’re officially moved in with Sir Savage?”
“As of today. Yes.”
“What is he like in real life?” Chloe asked after a handful of seconds, her question followed by a mock shiver. “Seriously, he’s so mean looking. I sat behind the bench for all of the home games last season and it’s pretty much just him ripping off his helmet and shouting at everyone. I can’t even hear what he’s saying, and I want to wet my pants.”
Tallulah thought of his earlier invitation to attend the home opener.
Maybe it was best to avoid it.
Although . . .
“I’m still figuring him out, but I can tell you he’s . . . passionate and yeah, kind of quick-tempered, but also . . . reasonable? On occasion.” She thought of him in the kitchen, chopping onions and peppers, his forearm flexing with every movement of the knife, allowing himself to be temporarily managed. “I told him I had some doubts about moving in with a man that I don’t know very well and he didn’t treat me like I was overreacting. He loves his daughter, and he isn’t afraid to say it. He’s protective.”
“He’s hot.”
“He is,” Tallulah blurted. “He’s extremely hot.”
“In like a mean Daddy way.”
“I know. I know.” Tallulah drained her drink. “Not that it matters. I work for him.”
“I know, right?” She stage-whispered over the music. “Why does that make it hotter?”
Your call, Tallulah. Had he already issued her an invitation? Why couldn’t she stop thinking about it? “Chloe, you’re a terrible influence.”
“No! I’m not!” She shook the ice in her glass. “It’s the vodka talking.”
“Likely story. Next, you’ll tell me you’re a marine biologist named Finn.”
Chloe spit out her drink onto Tallulah’s shoes, laughing. Tallulah joined her, both of them leaning against the bar for support. Approximately six men jumped to offer them bar napkins, waving little white squares in their faces, which only made them laugh harder.
And that is the exact moment the air changed in the club.
Chloe must have felt the ripple in the air, because the mirth abruptly fled from her pretty features and she went back onto her tiptoes, her chest expanding on a breath at whatever she saw. “Don’t look now, babe,” Chloe said. “But my huge problem is here.”
The words don’t look didn’t fully register with Tallulah, thanks to the alcohol-induced brain fuzz, and she joined Chloe in peering out over the top of the crowd. A man was weaving his way in their direction, a forward-facing ball cap pulled down low on his forehead. Still, that didn’t stop people from turning in his wake with their mouths hanging open. Were they shocked by his height? Because he wasn’t quite as tall as Burgess, but he was within a couple of inches and the width of his shoulders only amplified the size difference between him and everyone else in the club.
“Who is that?”
“That’s Sig. My future stepbrother.”
“The third member of the cheap room rental dark triad?”
“Yes.” Chloe sighed.
“Sig Gauthier?” shouted one of the guys offering them a napkin.
“Yes,” Chloe said, louder, finally taking one of the napkins and stooping down to quickly mop the spilled drink off Tallulah’s feet, before Tallulah could tell her not to worry about it. By the time Chloe stood up again, Sig had reached the bar—and he didn’t look happy. At all. His icy glare traveled over the bevy of men surrounding Tallulah and Chloe, growing colder by the second. At least until Chloe said, “Sig!” and threw her arms around his neck.