Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
What? There’s no way it’s after ten…
I pull the phone away from my ear to glance at the screen, and she is, in fact, correct. It’s 10:12 in the morning, and my early-bird self is still in bed.
“Shoot,” I mutter. “I didn’t realize it was that late.”
“Damn, girl. What have you been doing the past two days in Florida?” she questions on a laugh. “If you tell me there’s some hot meathead lying butt-ass naked in bed with you right now, I will literally shit myself.”
“You’re gross. And absurd.” I force myself to sit up in bed. “And sorry to disappoint, but it’s only me, myself, and I.”
“Lame-o!” she chastises on a laugh.
“I take it you’re feeling better?”
“Getting there,” she says. “But back to the important shit… You better tell me you did something exciting for your thirtieth birthday yesterday. If you say you read a book on the beach or ordered takeout and watched a movie in bed, I will be so disappointed in you.”
I lean my head back on the headboard and shut my eyes. It takes me a minute to even remember the last time I spoke with Anna, but eventually, I realize I haven’t talked to her since before my foot incident.
“Considering I had to go to the emergency room on Sunday because I sliced open my foot on a seashell, it’s safe to say I wasn’t out clubbing on my birthday.”
“What the hell?” she exclaims. “Are you serious?”
“I have stitches in the bottom of my right foot, and I’m walking around with crutches to prove it.”
“Oh my God, Katy! That’s horrible.”
“Tell me about it,” I agree. “But good news is the doctor is confident everything will heal up nicely. Just need to use my stupid crutches for about a week.”
“Tell me Mack is at least helping you out and making sure you have everything you need. Otherwise, you can bet your sweet ass he’ll be my next call.”
“Actually, he’s the one who took me to the ER. And…” I pause, almost unsure if I should reveal this to her or not. She’s like a raging bloodhound when she thinks there’s the possibility of romance. “He’s also the one who made sure I had a pretty awesome birthday yesterday, despite the bum foot.”
“Wait a minute… You spent your birthday with Mack Houston?” she questions, and I can practically see the fur starting to coat her by the minute.
“You can stop sniffing for a trail to follow, Anna. Nothing wild happened.”
I haven’t even waded into the dating pool since my five-month relationship with a guy named Ricky a year and a half ago. It was all fun and games until I realized that Ricky had several other women in the water with us.
“Seriously, Katy, you’re going to have to give me more than that. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to believe that you ended the night doing the horizontal tango on his big dick.”
“You are ridiculous,” I insist. “It was all very platonic. He got me a donut cake, decorated the condo, and took me kayaking. We ended the night by eating pizza together,” I tell her. “It was all really sweet…I guess?”
“You say that like you’re skeptical or something…”
“I don’t know,” I answer while my thumb and index finger pick at some imaginary lint on the comforter over my lap. “I guess I never thought of Mack as a thoughtful kind of guy. But for the last two days, he has been.”
He even ran a bath for me last night and—oh my God!
Unbidden and definitely unwelcome, a memory of last night fills my head.
Mack’s eyes on me and the incessant throbbing that had developed between my thighs as he scrubbed my back with a washcloth.
The towel slipping off my breasts and me just letting it happen.
Touching myself.
Telling him to stay even when he tried to leave.
Making myself come.
Oh my God! I touched myself to a freaking orgasm…in front of him!
“Katy? Hello? You still there?” Anna asks impatiently, not privy to the absolute freak-out going on in my head.
“Y-yeah,” I mutter past a thick tongue and dry throat.
“Did you hear anything I just said?”
“Um…” I can’t hear anything right now besides the words come and masturbation and Mack and I’m an idiot.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she mutters, her voice rising with irritation. “Mack is a nice guy. You may be having a hard time processing that because you’re so deep in the quest to loathe him, but him being thoughtful with you really isn’t all that farfetched.”
“What do you mean?”
“Katy. He brings the ladies in the front office Starbucks every Friday and takes recess duty from Charlamaine every Wednesday so she can get home to meet her kids at the bus. He takes his cousin’s son home when he needs him to, and even got Nurse Mona flowers on the anniversary of her mom’s death. Everyone likes him because he’s likable. Sure, it doesn’t hurt that he’s hot as fuck, but he’s also really sweet and thoughtful and charming. Have you ever thought that maybe you’re seeing a side of him that you just refused to let yourself get acquainted with within the walls of Calhoun?”