Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 169272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 846(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 846(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
Oh, God.
No.
What the heck am I saying? I just asked the man out on a date, sight unseen, within the first five minutes of our first conversation. And not only that, I’ve once again morphed into an old lady while doing it. Did I really say ‘nay’ and ‘to our stomach’s delight’? Son of a biscuit-eating bulldog.
“Indubitably!” Henn says enthusiastically, his ebullient tone making it clear he’s not only not put off by the emergence of my inner Golden Girl, he’s excited by my invitation.
“Oh, what a lovely time we’ll have!” I sing out like a dork. And then palm my forehead. Clear my throat. “Assuming it happens. Which is my hope.”
“Yeah, I hope so, too. Thanks.”
I need to press eject. Pull the cord on my parachute. Get the fuck off this call and talk to Kat and find out if I blew it. Could Henn possibly be as genuinely enthusiastic as he sounds? “No, thank you,” I reply, though I’m not sure what we’re thanking each other for. “I’ve enjoyed chatting with you.”
“Same here.”
Warmth spreads into my core. Based on his tone, I’d bet anything Henn is smiling broadly on his end of the phone call, the same as me. Shoot. I wish I knew what he looks like when he smiles.
Suddenly, I hear my boss’s voice nearby. “I have to go,” I whisper. “I’m at work and my boss is closing in. She doesn’t like us making personal calls during the workday.”
“Oh, okay, bye. It was great to talk to you.”
“To you, too. Would you mind putting Kat back on? I’ll pretend I’m talking shop with her.”
“About the extremely important work she’s doing in Vegas for her outrageously demanding client?” Henn chuckles. “Yep. Bye for now, Hannah.”
Butterflies release into my belly. “Bye for now, Henn.”
There’s a shuffling sound followed by Kat’s bubbly voice.
“Hey, baby! Isn’t he the cutest?”
I whisper, “Rebecca is in the hallway. Not sure if she’s coming here or not. Hang on.” I listen for our boss’s voice again and quickly surmise she’s at least two cubicles away and staying put for now. “Okay, we’re good for now. Yes! He’s the cutest! So sweet and earnest.”
“I know, right?”
“Can you show me what he looks like?”
“Sure, I’ll send you a picture.”
A few seconds later, my phone beeps, and when I look down, I’m pleasantly surprised. Peter Hennessey is a goateed hipster-nerd type. He’s got dark hair and eyes, kissable lips, and an adorable, smirky smile that simultaneously conveys sweetness and snark. In other words, he’s exactly my type.
“He’s hot!” I whisper-shout.
Kat giggles. “Yup. And word on the street is he’s a phenomenal kisser, too.”
My eyebrows ride up. How on earth would Kat know that? Is she friends with Henn’s ex? If so, yeesh. That could get messy. “Word on what street?”
“I’ll tell you when he’s not here. I have to run. Talk later?”
“Absolutely. Tell Henn I saw his photo and think he’s super cute! No, wait, don’t tell him that. I don’t want to seem too eager. Only tell him that if he sees my photo and thinks I’m cute. Have you already shown him my photo?”
Kat laughs at my rambling. “No, but I will soon. Gotta go, honey. Talk soon.”
“Bye, girl.” I’m about to lower the phone from my ear when my boss appears at the entrance to my cubicle. She points at her watch, like I’m running late for something. And that’s when I remember—fuck!—my meeting with the barbeque client was at ten. I calmly hold up an index finger to my boss and speak into my dead phone. “Great brainstorming session, Kat. I think the client will love everything we came up with. You, too. Thanks.” I pretend to disconnect the call and smile at Rebecca. “Is the client here?”
She scowls. “They’ve been waiting in the conference room for almost five minutes.”
Fuck my life. Rebecca hates tardiness. “Sorry about that.” I rise from my chair. “Hopefully, all will be forgiven when the client hears the brilliant ideas Kat and I just cooked up for them.”
2
HANNAH
“Why don’t you kick things off for us,” my boss, Rebecca, says. Thankfully, she’s looking at my co-worker, Helena, not at me. Phew. I’m usually well prepared for our weekly team meetings, but I’m not myself today, thanks to the distractibility I’ve been suffering from since speaking with Henn yesterday. I know I only talked to the man for mere minutes, and we didn’t talk about anything deep. Also, Henn said he lives mostly in LA, so there’s no logical point in meeting him, really. But the thing is I felt a stronger glimmer of a spark with Henn in those few minutes than I’ve felt with anyone in a long time—which is why I spent last night researching Peter Hennessey, instead of preparing for today’s team meeting.
I didn’t learn much about Henn during my online sleuthing, unfortunately. There are lots of Peter Hennesseys in the world. In the end, the only things I found out were the following: a) Henn attended UCLA, along with Kat’s billionaire, where he and Josh were both members of the same fraternity. The fraternity thing surprised me a bit, since Henn didn’t give off typical frat-boy vibes during our phone call, and I can’t imagine Josh Faraday belonging to a nerd-fraternity. But whatever, I’ve decided to withhold judgment on that. b) I found out Henn is around thirty years old, based on his college graduation date; and c) he owns a company called Your Nerd for Hire that apparently offers programming and IT support.