Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
A little later, I take off to meet Stefan. We’re shopping for Ivy’s gifts, and as we’re out and about, my phone pings with an artsy black and white shot from Ivy. Of the swell of her breast. The outline of her piercing. The curves of her torso. Then, the words, You can share it.
I show it to Stefan, and we admire it together in the store. “I want a whole fucking boudoir shoot of this woman,” I say.
“Bet she’d love that too. We’re going to have so much fun with your wife tonight,” he says, satisfaction already in his tone.
“Yes, we fucking are.”
We tell her as much in our group chat, and I count down the hours, trying not to think too much on how quickly I’ve gone from resistance to addiction.
30
TWO MEN AND A VIBRATOR
Ivy
I push on the door to An Open Book. A sign on an easel greets me. It’s for the Page Turners Book Club. There’s a lipstick-mark design on the sign. The book club has more than tripled in size since Trina started it a few years ago, and now she runs it both in person and on Zoom, with romance lovers signing in online from all over the world.
I head to the back of the store where she’s setting up with the regulars, gals who have been part of the club since the start—Prana, Kimora, Aubrey, and a handful of others.
Kimora is shaking the peach-colored paperback with a couple drawn in latte art on the cover. “I’m telling you, if my brother’s best friend saunters into my small-town coffee shop after breaking my heart years ago and peeling out of town, he’s not getting my best latte. He’s getting it in his lap,” she says. She’s brash and bold, but clever, too, as she adds, “But I’d make it look like an accident. I’d be all I’m so sorry.”
“But would you grab some napkins and awkwardly try to clean it up like every movie where someone gets a latte spilled?” I ask.
“No way,” Kimora says with a defiant shake of her head. “I’d leave him alone with his spilled drink and turn to the next guy in line, and he’d be a handsome billionaire wanting to whisk me away on his yacht. He’d want me to photograph gorgeous ocean views around the world.”
“And if he offered to have you quit your job and just shoot pictures all day, you’d say yes?” Trina deadpans.
Kimora fixes her with an obviously stare. “Do I look stupid? I’d say hell yes.”
Prana lifts a hand like sign me up. “When this billionaire walks into my store, I’m not saying oh no, don’t buy me things. I’m like please pay off my student debt for one date, K, thanks.”
“Or the rent on my booth at the salon,” Aubrey suggests.
“But only after he tells me he’s been coming to my shop and ordering lattes every day because he likes the way I make them better than anyone, and he’s finally decided to tell me, and now no one else can ever have me,” Prana says wisely. These are some of the very important conversations we engage in here.
“Things romance novels have taught me,” Aubrey adds.
“Someday we’ll write a dating self-help book and title it that,” Trina puts in, then segues the conversation as she lifts a finger. “Let me steal my girls for a second.”
Trina tugs me away from the crew, along with Aubrey, guiding me into a quiet nook of the store. “So, how’s your own bangathon going?”
My cheeks flush as memories flash by of the last week with the guys. Trina smirks and before I can answer she asks, “So it’s going that well?”
I smile nervously. “What’s better than well?”
“You deserve this after your ex and your ex-boss. Truly you do,” she says, squeezing my arm.
“There’s nothing quite like karma deciding to sprinkle fairy dust on you in the form of two dicks, is there?” Aubrey asks with a wistful sigh.
“Now that should be our next book club pick. Two Dick Fairy Dust,” I say.
“Has someone written that?” Trina asks, mock seriously.
“No, but I’m going to put it out in the universe and hope the universe returns it to me,” Aubrey says, then crosses her fingers. “But in the meantime, one of my clients asked me out.” Her grin grows wider. “Oh, have I mentioned he was my prom date?”
Trina smacks Aubrey’s shoulder. “Is he the one who got away?”
Aubrey’s eyes say maybe. “Aiden’s someone my family knows. My dad always thought he’d be perfect for me,” she says, then trails off for a few seconds, before she collects herself. “Aiden came back to town recently, and he started coming to see me. He has the most amazing head of hair and a fantastic beard, and we’re going out next week.”