Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
His grip tightened. “No, Raye. You look beautiful.”
I froze.
Cap didn’t.
He asked, “You doing okay?”
I bested the herculean effort to recover from his words and how much they meant to me, and shared, “I’m remembering I’m pissed at my dad for not being my dad.”
“Understandable.”
“So I’m nervous.”
“Again, understandable.”
“I’m also really glad you and Luna are coming with me tonight.”
“Wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
He was the greatest.
I leaned into him.
He kissed my nose, probably because he didn’t want to ruin my pink lipstick or have it all over his beard.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded and turned to Patches. “No scratching the furniture.”
He flicked his tail, which said, You’re not the boss of me.
I gave his booty a scratch.
He squinted his eyes to say I was forgiven for trying to order him around.
Cap interrupted this exchange by taking my hand and pulling me out the door.
Alexis and Jacob were in the pool, wrapped around each other, floating in the deep end, making out so hard, I wondered how they didn’t sink. Bill and Zach were sitting outside Linda’s apartment in her woven bucket chairs with what looked like a pitcher of margaritas. Sally, a chick who lived opposite me, was out watering the plethora of pots that adorned her front door.
“Hey, all,” I cried.
Sally whirled, “Hey, Raye! You look pretty!”
“Thanks!”
I got waves from Linda, Bill and Zach, so I waved back.
Jacob and Alexis ignored me.
“Man’s making up for lost time,” Cap said as he guided me down the stairs.
“He carried her to his Jeep on his hip this morning. I think she was going to rehearsal and he was driving her there. She has her own car. So that’s a big, fat yeah.”
Cap caught my gaze, his beard lifted up at the sides of his mouth and his eyes crinkled.
Our new security gate was a pale blue that worked really well with the new ocean of the walls. It was also a foot taller than the old one so, unless you were Cap’s height or taller, you couldn’t see inside. Last, it was pretty and decorative, but it had wicked spikes at the top so you’d think twice in trying to climb it.
“Landlord’s not fucking around either,” Cap noted.
All the painting and fence/gate switch outs were done by the time I got home.
“Nope. Not at all.”
He put me in his Porsche (yes, he scored a visitor spot again, it had to be a kind of magic), and we headed to Luna’s.
Cap had barely stopped at the curb before she was out the door, wearing a black halter maxi dress with a high, side slit and a print of large cream flowers and green leaves.
My best bitch had hella style. She looked great.
I felt my stomach dip when Cap got out to open the door for her.
Yeesh, he was something.
She folded in behind me, and I turned to look at her over the seat as he closed her door.
“I know I should be liberated, but he’s pure class,” she said.
“I know,” I replied.
Cap angled in beside me as she inquired, “You doing okay?”
“I’m good.”
“She’s nervous,” Cap put in as he glided from the curb.
I shot his profile a look.
“You’re nervous?” she asked me.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured her.
“And she’s pissed,” Cap added.
“Cap!” I snapped.
Dude spilling all my secrets.
“What?” he asked. “Luna and I are a team tonight. You don’t let your team member go in unprepared.”
“Damn straight,” Luna agreed.
I righted myself in my seat, seeing the error of my ways of fostering a kinship between these two.
“And just to say, I’d be nervous too, but more pissed,” Luna said.
Hmm.
We weren’t best friends for nothing.
Cap drove, and the nervous took over the pissed, so I was checking my lipstick in the mirror on the sun visor when Cap pulled around the fountain in the circular front drive of the Hermosa Inn where Lon’s restaurant was located.
Thus, at first, I didn’t know why Cap murmured a low, angry, “Goddamn it,” and Luna emitted a surprised, “Holy shit.”
I flipped the visor up and stared at the area in front of the adobe building with its double wooden doors, wooden benches, saguaro, paloverde and exceptional lighting.
Mingling there were Scott and Louise, Shirleen, and Tex and Nancy, Tex wearing what I assumed was fancy for him, jeans and a jean shirt.
Scott noticed our approach first and got to my door before the valet could, Louise and Shirleen close to his back. Once the doors were unlocked, Cap wasted no time knifing out.
Scott opened my door and helped me out, immediately explaining, “We couldn’t let you do this alone.”
“I called ahead, changed the reservation, got us a bigger table,” Shirleen told Cap over the hood of the car while he handed off the key fob to the valet.
Scott moved to help Luna out.
“They got steaks here? Because I don’t eat fancy shit.”
Tex was there.