Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“I like hearing about your real life,” he told me. “I do boring things too, sometimes.”
“Yeah, but it seems like you’re usually shirtless when you do them.”
He snorted. “Guilty as charged, bro.”
Bro.
If anyone else called me that, I’d have rolled my eyes. But somehow Kace got a pass, for just about anything he did.
He leaned past me to reach the fresh lemons at the other side of the bar and I caught a whiff of his hair. He smelled good—clean and fresh, but also musky in an inviting way. Probably expensive body wash or shampoo or both. If his bar was this lavish, I couldn’t even imagine what his shower must look like.
He glanced over at me after reaching for the lemons, a flash of radiant blue from under his thick lashes.
My cock perked up again instantly. Something was off with me. Had been since the moment I’d met him. Apparently my brain really was confusing “famous” for “fuckable,” or something, and now even a glance from Kace could do something to me.
“Calling me bro again?” I asked, trying to bury the riot of confusion inside me. I wasn’t even mad that he’d called me that, but something in me wanted to challenge him, especially when he was making my body feel like an overloaded power grid.
But I still felt like his blue gaze had me in a chokehold.
“I apologize, sir, yes, sir, Mr. Wood, your majesty,” he teased. He gave me one of those dimpled half-smiles, laced with mischief. The kind that looked like he was searching me to see if he’d gone too far with a joke, still managing to make every fucking moment sexy and playful.
And I didn’t know what to do with “sexy” and “playful” when they were from a man.
He handed me my drink, and I took the cold glass in my hand.
“You really don’t have an off button, do you?” I said to him, my voice low.
“No one’s found one yet, but you’re welcome to try.”
I took a slow sip of my whiskey sour, the bright punch of citrus and liquor hitting my tongue.
Kace was definitely fucking with me. And I couldn’t stop watching. I was pretty sure he knew my eyes were on him as he reached over the bar again, his oblique muscles on the side of his body on display. He poured himself a shot of white rum, squeezed a little lime juice into it, and then tossed back the shot, meeting my gaze.
I tried to give him a polite smile that probably looked as stiff and awkward as I felt right now.
Did he know how completely he had me hanging on a thread, like he was one step ahead of me at all times?
And how far was this standoff going to go?
Just then, a redheaded girl came barrelling over toward Kace, running up to him and giving him something between a tight hug and a tackle.
“I found sunglasses guy,” she said to Kace, her mouth in a wide grin. “And he’s even fucking hotter without the glasses on. I need another drink.”
“You’re going to outdo yourself tonight,” Kace said, already getting to work making her a drink. “What’s the quickest you’ve gone from meeting a guy to getting laid in one night, Cal?”
Her expression quirked up in thought. She had a few little sparkly rhinestones stuck on the sides of her eyes, and plenty of shimmery eyeshadow. “Probably three hours, with Ryan back in college. And yes. I fully intend to break that record tonight.”
Kace turned toward me. “Nathan, I know she needs no introduction after what you just heard, but this is my friend Callie. Callie, Nathan is the lead contractor for the company working on my guest house remodel.”
“Hi, Nathan,” she said, beaming at me and shaking my hand. “God, you really found the real-life Luke from Gilmore Girls, Kace.”
Kace glanced back at me. “Nathan’s hotter than that guy.”
My cheeks went molten and I glanced down, pretending to look at something on my shoes. Kace saying I was “hot” made me feel like a teacher’s pet. I’d done something right and gotten my reward of delicious praise.
I had to change the subject.
“I like your space buns,” I told Callie, looking back up and nodding at the two buns atop her head.
“See?” she said, her eyes going wide as she turned to Kace. “Even he knows that they’re called space buns. Kace called them Leia cinnamon rolls when I got here tonight.”
“I have a fifteen-year-old daughter,” I said. “She’s very strict about the difference between space buns, high buns, low buns, and ponytails. Anyway, they look nice.”
Callie laughed. “Well, you look nice, too. I dig the flannel. Very 90s grunge.” She reached out to feel my sleeve. “Soft, too. Is this vintage?”
“It’s Costco,” I said. “Straight from the tables at the center of the store.”