Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
“You’re a vegetarian,” I reminded her. “You don’t eat meat.”
“My friends do. Live and let live. Ever heard of this expression?”
“Yes.” I pinned her with a glare. “Didn’t realize you live by it, Miss No-Private-Airplane-For-You.”
“Clearly, I do.” She handed Hazel plates, ladling truffle fries into the empty space. “I’m feeding my friends slaughtered animal corpses.”
“Hmm. Appetizing. Thanks so much.” Hazel took a bite, side-eyeing Briar. “I’m going to deliver this other plate to Katie and leave you two to try to off one another.”
We were now alone.
A buzz of excitement zipped through me.
I was a big fan of being alone with this woman.
“Oh, by the way. They’re going to stay the entire weekend.” Briar pasted on a sweet smile. “That’s cool, right?”
No. Not at all. Our other roommate – the one you do not know exists – will literally string me up from the balcony and livestream it the second he finds out.
“Cool?” I gave her my best outraged face. “That’s fantastic. Half-naked women in my realm are nothing new. Feels like a homecooked meal.”
I sent her a playful wink and strolled over to the industrial fridge, fishing out a veggie patty. A few times a year, I made them from scratch in bulk and vacuumed seal them before storing them in the deep freezer.
Every now and then, my cousin Flynn came into town to ask about Seb’s whereabouts, bumming a meal off me before fucking off into the sunset. He was a vegetarian on the grounds of pissing me off and complaining that I never prepared for his visits.
Now I made it a point to be prepared.
“Sit down.” I tore open the individual pack and threw it on the grill. “I’m going to make you the best veggie burger of your fucking life.”
Briar didn’t budge. “No, thank you.”
“Your mouth will have an orgasm. It’ll be good preparation for the rest of you when we finally consummate our engagement.”
“Not gonna happen, but okay.” She crossed her arms, eyes glued to me, nonetheless.
“The secret is in the spices.” I slid open a drawer, plucking them out by the bottle. Cumin. Chili. Paprika. Thyme. Roasted garlic. Lemon pepper. Celery salt. “They take it from nothing burger to everything burger. You’ll see.”
She finally claimed the seat nearest to me, nursing her pink cocktail. “I emptied your drink stash, by the way.”
She was desperate to make me mad.
It was so adorable.
“Good.” I grabbed the tongs and snapped them in the air. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”
“We made an entire mess of the house. Not sure if you saw.”
“This is what I have housekeepers around the clock for. I pay them extra after parties, so don’t worry.”
I threw a bun on the grill and sliced the onions into thin circles. The rest of her friends crowded the table to grab their food. I introduced myself, told them they were welcome, and watched them scurry away to give us privacy, herded by a cunning Hazel, who obviously did think I was worthy of a second chance.
They ate on lounge chairs by the pool while I cracked open the fridge, selecting white cheddar, heirloom tomatoes, jalapeño cream cheese, and mushrooms. Earlier, I’d noticed that Briar hadn’t made anything for herself. Always so selfless.
She tapped her lips, watching me as I sautéed the mushrooms.
I transferred them onto the warming plate. “When did you become a vegetarian?”
“Eighteen.” She swallowed hard. “Right after I graduated high school, before I started college. I couldn’t afford meat, I was so poor. It wasn’t just that. I decided I wanted to be harmless to all beings. I’ve seen so much pain in the world and suffered so much of it that I didn’t want to contribute to more.”
I nodded, sliding her patty onto the toasted bun and layering on the veggies. I went extra hard on the chipotle mayo, swirling it on the top bun. When I handed her the plate and claimed the seat beside her, she didn’t complain.
Briar opened the burger and examined it as if it were a jewelry box. “You remembered I’m a mayo girl.” She managed to sound disappointed.
“I remember you’re a mayo girl.” I smiled at her. “I remember a lot of things about you, Briar. Just because I failed you once doesn’t mean I didn’t try my best. Unfortunately, my best wasn’t enough at the time.”
“Are you ever going to tell me what happened that summer?” She sank her teeth into the burger, closed her eyes, and groaned. “Ugh, this is good.”
“I will.” I watched her, mesmerized by how fucking pleasurable it felt to see her enjoy something I’d made. “When you are ready to hear it. You still have a few weeks of hating me to death to go through, I think.”
“Tack on fifteen years to that, and you’d be right.”
But she didn’t sound angry.
Sauce dripped from her lower lip to the plate as she bit into the burger again. I loved that she ate a juicy burger in her bikini. I loved that she was unapologetically herself. That she never tried to impress me.