Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
I shrugged. “I don’t know. You just aren’t giving off Dahmer vibes, my guy.”
Kai seemed oddly offended. He placed his hand against his chest. “You don’t even know my weird side yet. That’s a very big assumption.”
“Now that you mention it, it is weird that you’re getting offended that I don’t think you’re a serial killer.”
“Which, in turn, would make me a perfect serial killer.”
“Nah. I’ve been in the apartments of guys who might’ve been low-key serial killers. This isn’t giving me that same feeling. Sorry, Kai.”
He sighed and plopped down on the opposite side of the couch as me. “Gotta up my creepy skills.”
I smiled. The grumpy jerk was opening up to me with his odd sense of humor, making me feel pretty happy.
“Okay.” He took a swig of his beer. “Back to you. That profile bio is going to be a game changer.”
“Only time will tell. Let me guess. You want me to change my photos, too, right?”
“No. Those were great.”
“Really? You don’t think I look wider in person than in the pictures?”
“What?”
“You know…” I gestured with my hands as Bentley had at our almost-date. “Wider.”
“Did someone say that to you?”
“One of the guys I went on a date with, yes.”
Kai’s face shifted to anger. “Screw that jerk. You look exactly like your beautiful photos. You look even better in person.”
That trembling sensation between my thighs from earlier transitioned to a new feeling within my stomach. Kai wasn’t naturally a compliment kind of guy. So when one showed up, it created a wave of little fluttery butterflies.
“Don’t do that, Holly,” he warned.
“Do what?”
“Develop a crush on me.”
“What? Huh? Get over yourself,” I huffed, waving a dismissal hand. “I would never.”
“Yes, you would. Do you know why?”
“Why’s that?”
“You have a thing for emotionally detached men. Besides, I’m six years older than you. I’m off-limits.”
“Get over yourself, Kai. You’re not even attractive to me.”
Lies.
Lies.
Filthy, filthy lies.
Kai was so handsome it was offensive. It felt like a personal attack on others’ common sense. Because, yes, he was cold and standoffish and a straightforward jerk at times. But did you see those brown eyes? Or the biceps flexing in his plaid flannels? His slicked-back dark hair or his full, perfectly groomed beard? He had to be six-foot-four easily and dressed like an unbothered lumberjack, oddly improving his looks. On top of that, he had the nerve of smelling like Christmas morning. Fresh pine trees and cinnamon sticks.
Kai was a beautiful creation in the world of the male species. I’d be an idiot not to be somewhat attracted to him. Plus, he called me a good girl. My lower region still hadn’t recovered from that. One more “good girl” and I’d be down on one knee asking for his hand in marriage.
“Sure, Holly. Whatever you say. Give that profile bio a go and see how it does. Also, stop responding so instantly to the messages that men send you, and for the love of God, don’t send them paragraphs. I feel like you’re a paragraph girl.”
“I’m not a paragraph girl!” I argued. He narrowed his eyes in disbelief. I sighed. “I’m an author, Kai! I think in paragraphical terms.”
“Paragraphical isn’t a word.”
“I’m an author, not an editor.”
He snickered again. It was quiet and tame, but I made him laugh. I puffed my chest out in pride. “See! I’m growing on you.”
“Like a witch’s wart.”
“Did you just call me magical?”
“The way you twist my words blows my mind.”
I smiled and poked him in the arm. “I think you and I are supposed to be wonderful friends.”
Kai’s face dropped back into his normal grimace as he gestured toward his front door. “Leave me alone and go hang out with Grandma.”
I chugged my beer before standing from the couch, pleased with the help Kai had given me on my dating profile and headed to his front door. “Next time you see me, I’ll be on a date in your restaurant, Coach.”
“Good.” Kai followed and opened the door for me. “I hope I don’t see you a second before that.”
“You know, even though we had a meet-ugly, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
Instead of listening to him, I blew out my cheeks and held my breath.
He rolled his eyes and gently shoved me out of his doorway. “Goodbye, Holly.”
He didn’t realize it yet, but he liked me. Men were the slower gender. It always took them a few chapters to warm up to the fact that they were falling into a pool of feelings. Or, in Kai’s case, falling into a pool of friendship.
KAI
Holly brought a few more dates into the restaurant over the next week, but none of them stuck. Though her prospects weren’t due to them not wanting to date her, it was more so her turning them down.