Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Objectively attractive.
If he weren’t quite obviously a massive douchebag.
“I doubt that,” I replied. Then I purposefully turned my attention to the person beside him, essentially dismissing Kip.
The person beside him just happened to be Rowan Derrick. His business partner and best friend.
I was attracted to Rowan first. In fact, I’d all but ignored Kip and his shameless attempts at flirting with me every time they came in, which was often.
I’d been flirting with Rowan. Not quite shamelessly. But I’d gotten a little more … aggressive when Rowan didn’t respond to my normal efforts. Not that I’d needed to make an effort normally. I was blonde, had an unoffensive face, great tits and an accent. Men usually came easily to me.
Rowan did not.
He did not give any kind of inclination that he found me attractive. He was polite, spoke in as few words as possible and kept his gaze at my eye level at all times. Not even one glance down to the chest area, and I had been wearing some pretty chest-exposing outfits.
It was not until later that I understood that my best friend and boss Nora was into him. In a big way. Then I backed the fuck off. Even though she was engaged to a complete asshole at the time. Though I didn’t say it out loud that I thought her fiancé was a complete asshole. Not until she called off the wedding at least and then tumbled headfirst into a relationship with Rowan.
I was very happy with those turn of events, to put it lightly. Any attraction I had to him went up in smoke. It was all superficial anyway. I didn’t do deep. Didn’t do relationships. And I certainly didn’t do love.
Though I liked watching my bestie fall in love.
Unfortunately, Kip was also watching his best friend fall in love. Which meant he was around me. Often. And since I was no longer flirting with Rowan, I was subjected to Kip’s continual efforts to get into my pants.
He was somewhat notorious in Jupiter. Ever since him and Rowan arrived, started Derrick & Goodman construction, they caused a stir. Women—and men—all over town suddenly had remodeling jobs that just had to be done.
Rowan, as I understood, was not a monk by any means. But he was somewhat discreet with his dalliances.
Kip was not.
He fucked around.
A lot.
Not that I was judging, exactly. I fucked around a lot too. So, my dislike of him for simply being a manwhore was the pot calling the kettle a slut.
Still, something about him rubbed me the wrong way.
And also, something about him rubbed me the right way. Which pissed me off. I did not want to be another notch on his bedpost. I wanted him to be a notch on mine.
Therefore, I decided I was never ever going to fuck him.
Especially when our friends got involved.
We’d been at Nora’s house one night, at yet another dinner party with the four of us, a blatantly obvious attempt to create some kind of weird couple group.
Nora and Rowan were huddled in the kitchen, him likely whispering sweet nothings in her ear.
That meant I was alone with Kip. Or would’ve been had I not bolted to the bathroom the second our foursome became a twosome.
Except who was standing right outside the bathroom door, leaning against the wall, bottle of beer dangling between his fingers?
Fucking Kip.
“It’s creepy to wait outside bathrooms for women,” I snapped at him. I intended on walking around him, back to the living room and to my drink. Or maybe finding a blunt object. But Kip pushed deftly off the wall, right in my path.
“You know, now that Rowan and Nora are fucking…” Kip stepped forward to twirl a strand of my hair around his finger.
He smelled of wood, of dirt, of … man. It was not attractive.
Okay, it was a little attractive.
Or it would’ve been, had the scent been coming from anyone but Kip. Kip who was getting in my face with those sparkling blue eyes of his, that cocky grin and overall arrogant demeanor.
I restrained the urge to knee him in the balls. Just barely.
Instead, I painted on a sensual smile and fluttered my eyelashes. “So… we should fuck?” I finished his sentence.
“Took the words right outta my mouth,” he drawled, mouth in question lingering closer.
“We will fuck,” I murmured, lips almost brushing his, “when the sun explodes and we’ve got eight minutes and twenty seconds left on planet Earth.” I grabbed a hold of his wrist, forcing my hair from his finger. “On second thought,” I said, squeezing as hard as I could before I dropped it and stepped away from him. “I could think of many more pleasurable things to do with my last eight and a half minutes on Earth.”
Kip did not look perturbed in the slightest. “Your loss, darlin’,” he murmured, shrugging. "But in eight minutes and twenty seconds, I’d be able to rock your whole fucking world.” He winked and walked away.