Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 112961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“Why is it so hot when you lie?”
I ignore this and she rolls to her back, staring up at me with the light from the television illuminating her face. “Who do you think will win?”
“No idea.”
“You must have some idea. We’ll be down to four next week.”
“I think Isaac has a pretty good shot. Brenna tells me the Internet loves him.”
“Brenna tells you? Don’t you go online at all?”
“I’m online frequently. But I don’t go on social media if it can be helped.”
“This tracks.” She takes the bottle again. “I stalked your Insta. You have a picture of Stevie’s tiny feet on bike pedals and then a picture of a dog from, like, four years ago. That’s it.”
I laugh. “I don’t need the world to know what I’m doing every second.”
“Hot.” She studies me. “But as the producer, don’t you need to know what’s trending?”
“We need some of us to watch the show as its own thing, in isolation, so the story arc about finding you an actual soulmate stays consistent and true.” Her brows go up like I’ve just confessed to being a principled vegan. “Fizzy, I’m not altruistic. Others on the team track the voting. I just get the final numbers. It’s really a giant mess until the window closes and I don’t relish watching it in real time.”
She rolls up to her side facing me. “So you want Isaac to win?”
There’s no good way to reply to this honestly without sounding possessive or jealous or delusional. “I think he’s the best remaining contestant.”
“That’s not really an answer.”
“Too bad, because it’s the only one I’m going to give.”
“Are there any you wish hadn’t been eliminated?”
“Jude—assuming he’s ousted this week—and purely for the comedic factor.” I tap her nose. “Colby because I like it when you’re scrappy.”
“Jude wouldn’t have the slightest idea what to do with me.”
“Sweet, none of these poor sods have the slightest idea what to do with you, and that includes the bloke who’s already had a shot at it.”
She laughs at this. “But you do.”
“Course I do.” I grab the champagne back and take a long, draining pull of it. “Take you as you are by day and fuck you till you’re wrecked by night.” I pass the back of my hand over my mouth and reach over to set the empty bottle down on the nightstand.
Beside me, Fizzy’s gone silent. It’s my turn for a double take; her eyes are soft, lips slack. “What’s with you? Did I get that wrong?”
“No.”
She looks like she wants to devour me, and I laugh. “I can’t be the first to see through all the hilarity and impassioned lectures, Fizzy. You’d enjoy a man who understands that you just want a hot best friend who makes you laugh and come in equal measure. Honestly, it’s not that hard.”
She falls onto her back again, staring up at the ceiling.
“What?” I loom over her. “Is that offensive? Have I disrespected your hidden depths?”
“Enjoy,” she says.
“What’s that?”
She turns her eyes to me. “You said enjoy. ‘You’d enjoy a man.’ Not want or need or even deserve.” She turns her attention back to the ceiling and smiles. “You’re right. I’d really fucking enjoy a man like that. I just love that phrasing.”
“Why do you think you’re so complicated?”
“Because everyone else does.”
I shake my head, rolling to my side to face her and propping my head on a hand. “Not me. You’re a Rubik’s Cube with four blocks.”
She laughs, reaching across her body to smack my chest. “Hey.”
“A maze with a straight line through the middle. It’s just that most men are quite stupid.”
I can tell she wants to be mad but the delight in her eyes burns bright. She reaches up, brushing my hair off my forehead. “Careful,” she says.
“Careful what?” Her lips are soft and wet, her neck bare and stretching endlessly, soft for my mouth. I can see her pulse beating just beneath her jaw and want to press my face there and absorb the feeling of her fire thrumming under my touch. “You gonna rough me up for being straight with you that you’re just a big, messy softie?”
She drags her fingers along my temple and down my jaw. “Are you trying to make me want you?”
“I think that’s the problem,” I say, adjusting my head in my hand. “I don’t really have to try.”
Fizzy smiles distractedly. “Because you’re so sexy?”
“Obviously.”
She rolls back to her side, tracing her thumb along my bottom lip, and not even an oncoming train could get me to evade her touch. I can see in her eyes, too, that she understood my true meaning. I don’t have to try with her because everything between us is too easy. Too obvious. Too good. The idea that she’d end up with a Jude or even a Nick seems laughable now.