Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“Maybe I do want to know,” I conceded.
“We’ll tell you later,” Lark said, pulling me away to grab a beach towel as she dragged her ginger-red hair up into a high ponytail.
God, it was good to see Lark not working. The last year, she had been dedicated to Mayor Kensington’s reelection campaign. Of course, it had been worth it for more than the fact that they’d won. She’d met her boyfriend, Sam, on campaign, and he was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
I grabbed two towels and laid them out next to the girls’ chairs. Then I plopped down next to them.
“How was the flight?” English asked.
“Fine.” Of course… it had actually been one of the strangest moments of my life. But no one needed to know that. I turned to Whitley. “Where’s Robert?”
“That’s the story!” Whitley said.
Lark rolled her eyes. “It’s not as dramatic as usual.”
“Well, you didn’t put glitter on his ceiling fans, did you?”
“That was one time!” Whitley cried. She grinned. “And he had it coming.”
It was still probably my favorite Whitley story. How she’d found a guy was sleeping around and to retaliate she’d put glitter on all of his ceiling fans in the middle of the summer. So, when he came home, he’d turned on the fans. Poof. Glitter everywhere!
“Well, tell me. I thought things were going well with Robert. Wasn’t he supposed to be here?”
Whitley nodded. “Yeah. I guess, like, ten days ago, he heard that he wasn’t going to be able to take the time off. His company needed him to stay on through the holidays.”
“That’s bullshit. You broke up with him because he couldn’t come with you?”
“No,” she said fiercely. “I broke up with him because… I think he just… likes me more than I like him.”
“Story of your life, huh?” I asked.
Lark huffed. “She did it because she was scared.”
“I was not scared,” Whitley said.
“You had feelings for someone for the first time maybe ever, and you ran away,” Lark said with raised eyebrows.
“Damn, Lark,” English said. “Get straight to the point.”
“I did have feelings for him,” Whitley admitted. “He didn’t care that I liked my space. He wasn’t clingy. He thought my strange relationship quirks were adorable. But… he didn’t challenge me either. I could walk all over him. The only time he ever had to stand up to me was about this vacation. And you know what I felt when he said that he couldn’t come?”
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. I wasn’t even sad. I was like, ‘Okay, bro. Maybe next time.’ Is that normal?” Whitley shook her head and then drank from her piña colada. “I don’t think so.”
“Maybe you should talk to him about that,” English suggested. “Maybe, when you get home, you should sit down and have a real conversation with him. He might have been acting like a pushover because he thought you’d run scared otherwise.”
“Yeah… maybe. I don’t know. I’m not going to think about it. We have another week here. I’m augmenting some rich girl’s tits,” she said, making light of her job as one of the top plastic surgeons in New York City. “Maybe I’ll find an uncomplicated girl to hook up with while I’m here.”
“Didn’t you just say, like two months ago, that girls were more complicated than guys?” Lark asked.
“Hmm,” Whitley said. “Maybe you’re right. I do love eating out though… but dick is nice, too.”
“You are one outrageous person,” I commented with a smirk.
Whitley was an acquired taste. I’d thought she was crude and extreme the first couple times I met her. We clashed like oil and water, but she’d grown on me… kind of like a fungus. Now, I enjoyed her crazy tales and wild personality.
Camden returned with my piña colada, complete with a pineapple slice and umbrella.
“Thanks,” I said, taking it from him.
He leaned down then and cupped my chin in his hand. I was so startled by the contact that I just saw the hint of his smirk before he claimed my mouth. When he pulled back, my heart was fluttering.
“You’re welcome.”
He strode back over to the bar, leaving all of my girls speechless.
I took a sip and avoided their gazes. I had no explanation for that. Camden wasn’t… like that. He was a hard man. That was what I’d come to expect. What had our truce done?
“What was that?” Lark asked.
“Um… a kiss?”
“Yeah, no shit,” Whitley whispered. “He just fucked your mouth in public.”
English shrugged. “Even I can admit, that is not normal behavior from Camden Percy.”
I sighed and leaned in closer to them. “Well, we have a sort of… truce.”
“Truce?” Lark prompted.
“Yeah. We’re not going to argue at all while we’re here. Going to just… see how it goes.”
Lark opened her mouth to clearly speak the disbelief that was evident in her green eyes. But then she looked up over my shoulder, and her smile ignited. She waved. “Penn, over here!”