Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“Yes, Dad,” Catie said, the snark alive in her tone.
Danny narrowed his eyes. “What’s with you? You just told me I was about to forget my wallet, and I thanked you like a normal human instead of going all Godzilla on your ass.”
* * *
Catie went to part her lips on a snapped response… and realized she was doing it again. Treating Danny like he was “other” instead of one of her own people. She didn’t know why she reacted so defensively with him, especially when she knew that, to him, she’d always been just Catie. Not Catie the Poor Disabled Girl, or Catie the Inspiration, or even Catie the Paralympian.
To him she was Catie who liked makeup too much and always stole all the maple syrup on the table. “I did not go all Godzilla,” she muttered instead of apologizing. Even accepting that she was being churlish, she couldn’t make herself say the words.
“You still don’t have a coat.” Hands on his hips, he glared at her. “I’m not going to donate my jacket if you start to freeze off your bits.”
Stomping into her bedroom because he was right, she grabbed her big pink coat with its splotches of golden glitter on the bottom half. You’d think it was designer, but she’d found the coat at a recycle boutique for twenty-five dollars, then splotched it herself. She loved it to pieces and it went with everything.
Danny opened the door for her, then pulled it shut behind them.
Catie fought with herself on the walk to the elevator, finally blurting out, “Sorry. Wasn’t Godzilla, but might’ve been a smaller monster.”
His lips kicked up, and boom, there went her heart all over again. “Let me guess—a mini dragon?”
“Ha ha.” But she felt better now that she’d apologized. Ísa had brought her up better than to be an ass to someone who wasn’t being an ass to her. Catie knew full well she had a chip on her shoulder due to many and myriad reasons, but that didn’t mean she had to take the chip and beat defenseless people over the head with it.
The thing was, she almost never got snippy with even the most clueless people or those who misspoke. She didn’t expect the world to understand her reality when she might be the first double amputee they’d ever met. Innocent cluelessness she could forgive, particularly if the person was open to being corrected if they’d made an error.
Generally, the only people at risk of coming face-to-face with her dark side were the assholes.
Tonight, however, she was going out with a certified non-asshole. And that, she admitted, was part of the reason she’d jumped down his throat. Because she was freaked out at how well they worked together, how easy it was to be his fake girlfriend.
“Ready to paint the town red?” Danny asked inside the elevator before drawing his eyebrows together in an ominous scowl. “The same red you painted my face while I was sleeping that time.”
Shoulders shaking, she shoved the fear aside in favor of enjoying this night out of time. “City’s going to be scarlet by the time we’re done, hotshot.”
As they walked through the street together after their driver dropped them off at the closest spot he could get into, she found that she was happy. She felt young and cheerful and content deep inside.
And if her hand kept wanting to reach out to take Danny’s, if her stomach kept wanting to flutter, if her mind kept circling back to that moment on the red carpet that had stolen the air right out of her lungs, well… it was only a temporary madness. This was all pretend, and it would be over before she knew it.
“There’s the place.” Danny pointed.
“Wow, look at that queue.” She hadn’t expected it of the hole-in-the-wall spot. “I only managed to round up a couple of folks who might get Leon some media attention. Jerri has a big local following—she said she’d give the party a shout-out.” Catie and the model had connected online and had only met in person a couple of times, but it was a relationship Catie could see turning into a genuine friendship.
“Well, looks like she’s made Vertigo the spot to be tonight,” Danny said and reached out to take her hand. “I’ll be the torpedo.”
Since he was bigger and that queue of people had now spotted them, with a number having their phones out as they clicked and squealed, Catie decided to go with it. She had no wish to die an ignominious death in a stampede of women who wanted to aim themselves at Danny.
When his admirers kept their distance despite the fact they were all but bursting with excitement, she glanced at him to see that he had on what she’d always called his “serious shit” face. That face tended to come out on the rugby field when the chips were down and the team had to pull a win out of their butt. It also came out when there were important family things on the table.