Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“Not that kind of bull pen . . . It’s like a clump of desks where the all of the junior brokers sit. The Sams think it breeds healthy competition to put them all in the same area instead of separate offices, to see who wants it most. The bull pen is arranged into clusters of desks of four—one assistant to three brokers.”
Lara nodded to indicate she understood, and Kate continued with her pathetic story. Because in hindsight, it was really pathetic.
“Ian and Matt introduced themselves immediately,” Kate said. “They were like cute little puppy versions of the guys we know now. Smart and charming. Not quite desperate for people to like them, just sort of determined that everyone would.”
Sabrina laughed. “A puppy is the best comparison for those two back then. They humped just about anything in front of them, like boy dogs who haven’t figured out what to do with their nuts.”
“Where was Kennedy in all of this?” Lara pressed.
Kate tried to ignore the way her heart still did a weird little flip, just at the memory of that day. “He was on the phone when I got to my desk. I saw his profile, could hear his voice, and yet I was totally unprepared for it.”
“It?”
She bit her lip and tried to think of how to explain what had happened next. “You know that moment in cheesy movies, where the nerdy girl first lays eyes on the hot guy, and the whole thing switches to slow motion, and the music changes? It was humiliatingly exactly like that. He stood, extended his hand to introduce himself, and the second our eyes locked, I just . . . knew.”
“Knew what?” Sabrina asked with a frown.
Lara flicked her arm in reproach. “Oh, come on. Love at first sight, literally. It’s romantic as heck.”
“It’s really not,” Kate said. “It was so silly. Even back then, I knew it. I was twenty-two years old, fresh out of college, and my shirt had an honest-to-God bow on it. A big one. And then there was Kennedy. He was twenty-nine, broad-shouldered, serious, and just so manly compared to the college boyfriend I’d broken up with.”
Sabrina fanned herself. “Damn. I am so getting it now.”
“So what happened?” Lara asked, resting her chin on her hand and looking like a preteen at a slumber party, wanting to hear more about the popular boy.
Kate shrugged. “Nothing, really. I poured all of my energy into trying not to get flustered and breathless every time he spoke to me. He didn’t make it easy. Did you know he took his grandmother to church every Sunday until she passed away last year? Or that he’ll wait forever to hold a door for a woman. Or that he used to fake not getting along with his brothers so Ian would agree to come home with him at the holidays to act as a buffer.”
“Because he knew Ian’s only option was a foster father who thinks Top Ramen counts as Christmas dinner,” Lara said softly.
Kate nodded. “And once, he overheard me on the phone with my dad, who was super bummed because the fishing lodge in North Carolina he and his childhood friends went to every year had been shut down. The next morning, Kennedy sent me an email with the confirmation code for a vacation rental on Lake Norman. He’d rented a six-bedroom house right on the lake for my dad and four men he’d never even met. He barely accepted my gratitude and wouldn’t take any of the money I tried to pay him back with.” Kate threw her hands up in the air. “How was I not supposed to be in love with him?”
Lara nodded thoughtfully. “You know, if Kennedy did that for your dad, maybe he—”
“Felt the same way?” Kate made an elimination buzzer noise. “Wrong.”
“You don’t know that,” Sabrina chimed in. “Maybe he was too afraid to say anything, just like you were.”
Kate withheld the flinch, hating that she’d let herself hold on to that same foolish dream for as long as she had, and instead took a deep breath to tell her friends the rest of the story—the part that really hurt.
“So you know how the guys have that pact? The one where they can’t date me?” Kate said.
Lara stared at her. “Wait. You know about the pact?”
“Yup,” she muttered. “I was there when they made it. I mean, they don’t know I was there,” she rushed to explain. “They thought I’d left for the day, but I’d forgotten my umbrella, so I came back, and they were in Kennedy’s office.”
“You heard the whole thing?” Sabrina asked with a wince.
“No,” Kate said softly. “Just enough.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Lara touched her hand. “What’d those morons say?”
“Just the one moron,” Kate replied. “They were sort of arguing, and Kennedy said, ‘The little thing’s hardly irresistible, but better safe than sorry in case any of us gets drunk and stupid.’”