Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 134830 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134830 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Well, not really us. Those looks are most definitely intended for yours truly, alone. I can almost feel her cursing my name with each stomp of her foot. Kyle… fucking asshole… hate that fucker… Kyle. That last one is said with a full-blown, snarling growl I’m sure Dani’s more than capable of.
At the end of the day, I send Wayne and the guys on their way, wanting to fix things with Dani without an audience because I’m pretty sure she’s going to rip me a new one. Besides being too proud to let that happen—again—in front of the guys, there’s a part of me that doesn’t want them to see her treating me that way, however rightly earned, and make assumptions about Dani being bitchy or anything.
The last thing I need is them complaining about Kathy and Dani. One, I’ll go along with. The other, I won’t take kindly to. Call me a glutton for punishment, I guess, but I feel a kindred spirithood with Dani and her business, and I want to protect her, despite her repeatedly reminding me that she can handle things herself. Even if it’s protecting her from me and my work for her neighbor.
I cross Kathy’s yard, intending to hop the fence between her and Dani, but stop as I approach. There are a bunch of flowers trailing along the fence, fresh plantings it looks like, some bougainvillea, but mostly nasturtiums and mandevillas.
Must be the garden Kathy was talking about tending. And of course, the plants are practically hugging the property line to the very inch, giving her a ready and easy excuse for why she’d be hanging out, looking into Dani’s yard for hours on end. Yeah, that fence is going to be good… for Dani’s sake.
Not really giving a fuck whether it’s a good idea or not, I grab a few handfuls of the brightly colored nasturtiums and mandevillas, pulling the vines down and turning them into an ad hoc bouquet. Instead of climbing the fence, I walk toward the front and U-turn around it to save the fistful of flowers. Knocking on Dani’s door, I steel my spine for the incoming wrath of a pissed-off Dani Becerra.
I’m not disappointed, because when she answers, she nearly hits me with the screen door, and her dark eyes are practically shooting lasers which slam into my chest and burrow through me. Quickly, I hold the flowers up. “I’m sorry.”
She drops her eyes to the offering, scoffing. “Did you steal flowers as a way of apologizing?” she demands, sounding offended rather than appreciative. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.” I don’t apologize, not for that. There’s enough other shit I need to smooth over. Flowers? Not even on the top five list. “We’re gonna rip them out when we redo the fence anyway, so someone might as well get some enjoyment out of them.”
“Pretty sure Kathy did not intend for that to be me.”
Despite her argument, she still takes the flowers, the tiniest hint of a smile teasing at the corner of her lips, though I’m not sure if that’s because of the pretty blooms or because the theft will definitely piss off Kathy. Mostly, I’m encouraged that she doesn’t immediately throw them on the ground and start stomping them into pink and purple sludge, which is a ridiculously low bar, but with Dani, I have to take a good sign where I can get one.
“And if she sends the police over here and this” —she holds the bouquet up— “is the proof that I trespassed, I’m going to put out a hit on you from my jail cell.”
Damn, she’s right. I hadn’t thought that far ahead, and Kathy’s petty enough to do something like that. But I honestly don’t care what Kathy wants. Hell, after this morning, I’m once again halfway considering telling Kathy to fuck off and fuck this job. It’s a good thought, even satisfying to imagine telling her she can shove her pool up her uptight ass.
But I can’t do that mid-construction. It’d be a logistical and legal nightmare for me, and whatever crew Kathy finds to complete the work won’t give a shit about what issues they cause Dani. They won’t care like I do. “I’ll take the heat. You have to admit, the flowers are pretty.”
Dani looks at the bouquet in her hand like she’s truly seeing it for the first time, and she smiles fully. It softens her entire face, making her seem sweet in a way she’s usually not. She glances up at me through her thick, dark lashes and quietly confides, “The fact that they’re stolen from Kathy kinda makes them even prettier. So, thanks.”
Ah, there she is—the fiery girl. I don’t know if Dani Becerra has a sweet bone in her entire body, but the spice in her is as addicting as cinnamon sugar on a frappe, which my niece introduced me to and got me hooked on because of course, she did.