Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 103530 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103530 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
I spotted the lamppost at the convergence of the two sidewalks where we’d met the night before. A moth the size of a bat swooped over my head, and I ducked.
A laugh floated up the path, and I squinted to make out the shape moving toward me through the darkness between the carefully positioned lights.
“Did you just get attacked by a moth?” Charlotte asked.
Of course she had seen the entire thing. Why wouldn’t she have?
“I was thinking about how impressive it is that this resort isn’t more buggy.” And now I was talking about pest control with the hot chick.
“The way the internet makes this place sound, it’s supposed to be this charming seaside rich people swamp,” she said, shielding her eyes as she looked up at the light. “So, how do you do it?”
“How do we do…?”
She gestured over her head. “Is it bats? Infrasound? Carefully positioned bug zappers?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s not a department where I’m real hands-on.”
“But you’re hands-on with the alligators?” she asked as we began to walk up the path.
“Did you see me lay my hands on an alligator?” I countered. “I won’t be touching that damn bear either.”
She snorted a laugh, having been present for the discussion of who would walk the bear down the aisle. “You’re going to break Lauren’s heart, you know.”
“She’ll have to take comfort in knowing that I got the damn bear here, then. Because I’m not getting anywhere near the thing.” Despite Lauren’s assurances that Daisy was the nicest, sweetest, most gentle carnivorous Ice Age megafauna around, I wasn’t taking any chances.
“That was a nice thing you did, though,” Charlotte said. “If I forgot to mention that before.”
“You did forget to mention it, but I’ll let it slide. You were so impressed you were overwhelmed.” I hoped she knew I was teasing. That I didn’t think I was as amazing as all the shit I was talking.
I had a hunch that was the case when she played along. “Well, you’re very impressive. It’s difficult not to feel overwhelmed.”
“It’s the price you’ll have to pay to bask in my nearness.” I lowered my voice as a couple approached from the other direction. Thank god, it wasn’t anyone from Scott’s family. When they passed by, I asked Charlotte quietly, “In all seriousness, I want to make sure that you fully understand what’s going to happen tonight.”
She blinked up at me.
“You know, with the—”
“Yeah, I know what you’re talking about.” She looked over her shoulder before whispering, “I assume you have some guy waiting to catch us on the roof, and then we’ll all fuck.”
“That ruins some of the surprise, but yes,” I admitted.
“It’s not a surprise if it’s what we explicitly discussed.”
“Do you expect me to believe that you weren’t a little more convinced once you saw that bear?”
She thought for a moment. “It did make it seem more probable and less like idle fantasy talk. I didn’t want to admit that you’d actually be able to pull off the fantasy thing, you know?”
That could be a problem, because I had absolutely pulled it off. I stopped and faced her, my hands on her slender shoulders. “But it’s something you want to do? The reason I’m asking is because I’m not playing chicken here. We’re going to go upstairs and fuck and get caught and then fuck the guy I’ve got waiting to catch us.”
“I know,” she said simply.
“And you’re still okay with that? You’re not counting on us getting up there and it all being a joke or something?” That would be a humiliating thing to explain to the fuck buddy I’d flown in from New York.
“Yeah.” She shrugged my hands off and started walking again. “I trust you.”
“But you were overwhelmed because…”
“Because you’re literally a billionaire. You can do whatever you want, all the time. That’s intimidating.”
That was fair. I found it intimidating, myself. There were thousands of things I could do, could get away with, that the average person couldn’t. And I guess it would weird me out, if I’d never known a life like that, to hang out with someone who lived that way.
“Intimidating,” I repeated. “But you trust me.”
“I do.” She nodded decisively. I noted she hadn’t worn her hair in a ponytail tonight, but in loose curls around her shoulders. The lights along the sidewalk illuminated a halo of copper around her.
Who the hell was this woman, who’d met me less than twenty-four hours ago but who was about to march into my suite and act out one of her secret fantasies with me? That was the kind of boldness and fearlessness that reminded me—
Well, it reminded me of me. And I’m a big fan of myself, so I found myself liking her a lot too.
Charlotte was fun. And she didn’t seem to give a damn about what I thought of her.