Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
“Not anymore.” I raise the glass to my nose and smell it while she laughs. I take a sip when I don’t smell anything odd. “Not bad.” I hold the glass out to her, and she eyes me wearily. “What, you don’t trust me?”
“Should I?”
“I’m not the one who didn’t warn you about the pickle juice.”
“It says a lot about someone when they can’t let things go.”
“It happened two minutes ago.”
With a smile, she grips the glass and takes a drink. “Oh, I like this one.” She drinks more.
I shake my head. “And here you thought I was trying to play you.” I open the last bottle. When I pour out the liquid, it’s bright yellow. After trying it, I pass the glass to her and watch her take a sip. Then, her eyes widen. Leaning over, she spits into the sink.
“What the heck is that?” She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.
“My guess? Lemon.”
“It tastes like Mr. Clean.” She laughs, and I watch with my hands fisted at my sides so I don’t do something stupid like reach for her, tangle my fingers in her hair, and kiss her.
Her eyes meet mine, and her hilarity dies instantly, like she knows what I’m thinking. Swallowing, her gaze drops to my mouth, and electricity seems to vibrate through the air between us. Without thinking, I take a step toward her and then curse under my breath when her cell phone rings, breaking into the moment.
Fuck.
Hopping off the counter, she goes to her bag, takes out her phone to check the screen, and then taps the side, sending whoever it was to voicemail. She looks up at me after shoving her cell back into her purse. “I should—”
“Do you want to watch a movie?” I cut her off before she can tell me that she should leave because I know that’s what’s coming.
“Um.” She rubs her lips together, her gaze dropping to my mouth so quickly that I would’ve missed it if I weren’t watching her so closely. “Sure, okay. Yeah.”
I don’t give her a chance to change her mind. I walk into the living room and take a seat on the couch. She doesn’t sit next to me; she sits as far from me as she can get. I hide my smile and turn on the TV. After some bickering, we agree on the first Saw movie. As it begins, I feel her eyes on me more than once. I don’t ask her what she’s thinking. Instead, I decide to just let her work things out in her head. It’s obvious there is something between us, but after finding out tonight at dinner that her ex cheated on her, I now understand why she has her guard up. The thing is, I’m not in a rush. I have all the time in the world to see where things go.
Chapter 9
Reese
“What about this one?” I hold one of Aunt Ileana’s dresses in front of me so she can see me on the iPad I have propped up in her closet against her mirror.
“Boring,” she calls out, and I roll my eyes. It’s the third time she’s yelled the same thing in the last ten minutes. As I assumed when I told her that Brodie invited me to go to New York with him for a fundraiser, the first words out of her mouth were, “Don’t buy a dress until you look through my closet.” Wait, that’s a lie. The first words out of her mouth were, “I need to look into him before you accept his offer.” Ten minutes after googling him with Marco at her side, she told me to raid her closet.
“What part of this dress is boring?” I ask, looking down at the sleeveless red dress with its high neckline, pretty lace, and sheer-panel details.
“It’s not you. You’re young and beautiful. That dress doesn’t show enough skin.”
“Should you be telling her she needs to show more skin?” Marco asks, looking at my aunt with a frown.
“She’s going on a date with a handsome man; of course, she should show more skin.”
“It’s not a date,” I cut in, and her gaze moves to me. “Brodie and I are just friends, remember?”
“Of course.” I swear she rolls her eyes, but the iPad is so far away, I can’t tell for sure. Shaking my head, I rehang the red dress and go back to sliding through her rack of dresses. When I notice a hanger with nothing on it, I begin to take it out just to hang it back with all her unused hangers. But when I tug it off the bar, I notice that it does have a dress on it, but the straps are so thin they’re almost invisible against the black hanger, and the dress is cut so low I didn’t see it before. My heart starts beating funny when I pull it fully out of its spot. The dress is absolutely beautiful. It’s also very, very sexy. The top is a lace bustier with a sweetheart neckline and black velvet detailing outlining the cups that almost look like a built-in bra. The black lace over the sheer material is body-hugging and would likely hit me at about mid-calf.