Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“The worst kind. The evil temptress who seduces with her body, but cuts with her tongue and rapier sharp mind.”
“Ooh.”
“A man won’t know he’s been felled until he finds himself on the ground staring up at the sky wondering how the fuck he got there.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“That sounds—”
“Wicked? Fucking reprehensible? Monstrous?”
“I was going to say b-badass.”
She had the endearing habit of stumbling over her words occasionally. He’d only recently started to notice it. Sometimes she hesitated for a long moment before speaking and then—when she did—her words rammed into each other, as if she couldn’t get them out fast enough in her haste to get her point across. He didn’t know why he found it cute. But he did.
He took another sip from his drink, hiding his smile. “What kind of villain am I?”
“Dastardly. The evil moustache twirling kind; you’ll rub your hands in glee and laugh maniacally as I struggle to free myself from the train tracks you’ve tied me to. Your evil powers include—but are not limited to—arrogance, sarcasm, making me the butt of your every joke, snapping, snarling, snarking, and sneering at me.”
“All of that, huh?”
“And more.” She placed her glass aside and folded her arms over her chest.
“I forgot to add your most impressive and annoying evil power,” he said, then paused to take another sip from the refreshing cranberry juice.
“What is it?” she prompted, impatience trilling along the edges of her words.
“A hugely over-inflated sense of self-importance. Seriously Lizzy, your ego could fill a blimp.”
“What?” She looked frankly stunned by that and blinked at him in shock for a few seconds before that pretty brow furrowed. “That’s nonsense.”
“You deny being a know-it-all?”
“I do,” she said without hesitation, her frown dipping into a glare.
“How do you recommend I go about fixing your gutter?”
She responded without a moment’s hesitation and without even a trace of irony. “Well—considering the age of the house and the fact that the gutters are original—I’d say that it probably needs new brackets. Any fix you do today would likely be temporary at best…” Her voice trailed off and she flushed self-consciously when he folded his arms across his chest and sneered at her.
“Look, I just happen to know useful stuff, okay? That doesn’t make me a know-it-all.”
“It does when you’re always inserting your unsolicited opinion into every conversation.”
“Well, if I know something is incorrect I can’t—in good conscience—allow someone to proceed, can I? Not when it could result in injury or damage to property, or y’know…general ignorance.”
“It’s just that you have this way of making it sound like your way is the only way. The best way. The right way.”
“It usually is.”
“And you don’t think you’re a smug little smart aleck?”
“Well, I don’t think I’m smug,” she denied, her voice heated, and he snorted. Her throat worked as she swallowed. Her eyes were huge and vulnerable as she hesitantly asked, “Do the others think this too? That I’m a know-it-all…”
He sighed softly. He hadn’t meant to hurt her or make her question her friendships, or her place in the group.
“I can’t speak for anyone else. This is just my opinion and since we’re arch enemies, it was never going to be great.”
“I suppose so.” She still looked doubtful, her voice small, and Gideon immediately felt like the douchebag she had accused him of being earlier.
“How do you know so much about everything, anyway?” he asked, in an attempt to chase that haunted vulnerability from her expression.
“It’s what I do. I’m a technical writer. I’ve written instruction manuals, medical pamphlets, insurance booklets, things like that. Basically, I become something of an expert in whatever my latest project happens to be. I have to know everything I can in order to translate all of that complex technical or medical jargon into plain, easily digestible English. Once I’m done with a project, I file all that extra information away in a vault in my brain but every so often I like to share a useful tidbit. No point in knowing so much but never using it again.”
“That’s pretty cool,” he grudgingly conceded, impressed despite himself. He’d always known she was intelligent; he’d just never been interested in finding out more about her. He still wasn’t. This was just a passing curiosity. “I didn’t know that about you.”
“I suppose there’s a lot we don’t know about each other.”
“Oh my God,” he raised a shocked hand to his chest. “Doth mine ears deceive me? Hath She Who Knowest It All, the inimitable, unshakable, unparalleled Miss Elizabeth ‘Lizzy-bit’ Finch, just admitted to not knowing something?”
His over-the-top incredulity teased a tiny smile from her, before she ruthlessly bit it back. But there was no disguising the laughter dancing in those pretty eyes.
“Shut up,” she muttered sheepishly, throwing a tea towel at him. “I didn’t realize I was being so obnoxious. I would hate it if everyone else felt the same way you did.”