Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 84952 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84952 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Larissa. Noted.
Sebastian clenches his fingertips into the poor girl’s side, closing the two millimeters between them. He then turns so he’s almost standing sideways to me.
I didn’t have Sebastian painted to have a lot of street sense. The little black sweater vest over an argyle sweater and a complexion that screams fancy skin creams gave that away. Still, I’m surprised a guy like this doesn’t even have the sense not to turn his back on a guy like me—a guy who could break his jaw with the flick of my wrist. Not to mention, he’s clearly trying to piss all over my girl.
Have I known her for longer than three minutes? No. But that’s not the point.
Catherine grins sheepishly. “It’s nice to meet you, Larissa. Your dress is so cute.”
Larissa smiles at Catherine, relief sprinkled over her features. “Thank you. I like yours too. Did you get it at Halcyon?”
“I did. I love that store.”
“Me too,” Larissa says. “I almost bought that exact outfit a few weeks ago but wasn’t sure I could pull it off.”
Catherine laughs. “I thought the same thing about myself.”
The girls exchange a friendly smile as Sebastian stews beside Catherine.
His jaw clenches as he looks at me. I lift a brow in a silent challenge.
I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt and not judge a book by its cover or however that saying goes. But Sebastian seems to have gone out of his fucking way to print asshole on his forehead. There’s another adage about trusting people when they tell you who they are.
I believe him.
Sebastian tries to hold my glare but gives up in a matter of seconds, just as I knew he would.
He clears his throat. “Catherine, would you gather our coats, please? I’ll meet you by the door in a moment.”
“Sure,” she nearly whispers. “It was nice to meet you both.” After a timid nod, she dashes away.
I instantly feel sorry for the girl. But there’s no time to think about that. I have a job to do.
“Sebastian, this is …” A streak of panic flutters through my girlfriend’s eyes as she realizes she doesn’t know my name.
“I’m Hollis Hudson,” I interject, more for Larissa’s benefit than anything.
“I’m an old, close friend of Larissa’s,” Sebastian says, eyeing me carefully. “It’s always nice to see her around.”
“Well, I’m a new, closer friend of Larissa’s, so I bet we’ll all be seeing each other around.” I run my tongue around my cheek and let my stare finish the thought.
He hems and haws around, looking back and forth between us as his displeasure grows by the minute. “How is your father, Riss?”
Larissa bristles at the nickname. “My dad is great.”
Sebastian nods. He expected more from her—more freely given information that felt intimate to him. A wrinkled brow tells me he didn’t get what he wanted. A set jaw tells me he’s going to press until he does.
“Tell him hello for me,” he says.
Larissa tenses in my arms. I rub my hands up and down her shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze at the end. I want to tell this fucker precisely what I think, but I’m in a bit of a pickle here. I’m not really her boyfriend, or I’d jump right in and put Sebastian in his place.
And she already told me no punching.
I bite my tongue and wait for her to give me an indication about what she wants me to do. I’m not going to be in her life in the morning. I don’t want to ruin shit she doesn’t want imploding.
She takes a deep breath, her body heaving from the energy I think she’s about to spew. I know one thing—if she loses her cool in front of this guy, it’ll only encourage him and his antics.
I’ve seen this a hundred times before. There are people—men and women—who get off on riling people up. Sebastian is clearly one of those guys, and I’ll be damned if I let that happen.
Not to my fake girlfriend.
“We have somewhere we need to be,” I tell Larissa.
Larissa looks up at me in surprise. “We do?”
The expression on her pretty face changes from surprise to concern—surprise I said we had plans and concern she broke character.
I wink to assuage her worry.
“We do,” I tell her, dropping my voice. “And you’re gonna love them. Trust me.”
She flushes the sexiest shade of pink. An impish smile displays little dimples in her cheeks. Whether she’s playing along in her role as my girlfriend or if she really is reacting to the idea of us being together, I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s a hell of a turn-on.
“And what do those plans consist of, Hollis?” she asks, making my name sound a whole hell of a lot sexier than it ever has before.
The intimacy in her eyes and that fucking blush make my cock hard as hell. I move around as smoothly as I can to try to distract it.