Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Valentine Stranger: Life is easier if you focus on what you can control. You can’t control love.
Tori: But you can control whether or not you have a good time.
“How’s it going?” Cleo asks.
“Okay… I think. I’m channeling my inner Cleo, pretending to be casual. Thankfully, it’s just texting. I don’t think I could keep up this game if we met in person.”
“Even if it was Mr Silver Fox? Any response? Because he put his phone down.”
“Nothing.”
Lily sings, “Faaate…”
I don’t answer Cleo’s first question. Thinking about the idea that my secret texter could be the silver fox has my belly doing flips. But I’m not going to let them see that.
“He’s picked up his phone.”
And, of course, I get a text.
Valentine Stranger: Give me your definition of fun when it comes to romance.
I imagine the silver fox saying this in his deep, commanding, rich voice, the same one he used when defending me against Damien. I don’t have an answer to his question – or is it more of a demand?
“Something wrong?” Lily asks.
“He just asked me to define my definition of fun when it comes to romance. Or challenged me to, I guess. What should I say?”
“Be honest,” Lily advises. “Speak from the heart.”
“Screw that,” Cleo says. “Say you want to keep this the most casual relationship ever. Tell him if he even hints at anything serious, you’ll leave a Tori-shaped hole in the wall.”
Her comment is lighthearted, but the reference to my ‘shape’ leaves me feeling annoyingly self-conscious for a moment. I beat the body-image demons away.
Tori: Taking it one step at a time. Not worrying about tomorrow or the implications. Living in the moment. Being happy. I guess that’s my definition.
Valentine Stranger: I can’t afford to live in the moment. I’ve got a career that demands a lot of my time. I’ve got family responsibilities. It’s not just myself I have to worry about.
I want to ask more about him, but I’m getting too invested. It’s like he’s trying to force me to take an interest. And I am, which is bad. I’m not going to fall head over heels over the freaking phone.
“He’s mentioned his personal life,” I murmur.
“Ask him about it,” Lily counsels.
“Tell him to put a sock in it and hurry up with the dick pic.”
“Cleo!” Lily says, but she’s laughing.
“That’s less ‘casual’ and more ‘end up on a list,’ Cleo,” I say.
My phone vibrates again.
“Silver fox update,” Cleo says. “He just typed loads then put his phone down… right when your phone screen lit up.”
Butterflies swirl in my belly as I pick up my cell to read his next text. What if it is him? I almost don’t want it to be. If it’s somebody else, I might have more chance of keeping things casual.
When he looked at me, I don’t know, I felt like… Ah, there it is—that nasty, defeatist, not-very-Cupid-like thought. I feel like Mom: a sucker waiting to be taken advantage of.
CHAPTER 6
ALEX
“Why are you being so grumpy?” Julian asks in an exasperated tone. “How many times have you told me you want to find love? That’s why you didn’t want anything to happen with those chicks, right? Because you think it’d be cheap. Well, if you don’t try, you’ll never find the real deal.”
“You’re drunk,” I mutter, looking down at my phone.
My last text reads.
Alex: So there you have it. I can’t be casual. I can’t be fun. It’s the wrong holiday for it, so you can call me Scrooge.
“I know that look on your face. You should go and talk to her.”
“Who?”
Julian rolls his eyes. “What’d you mean, who? The woman you saved, the one you keep looking over at every couple of seconds.”
He’s right. I can’t help it. Sitting at the table with her friends, Tori is fascinating.
She makes me ache just by looking at her, imagining tearing her sparkly top away, revealing her tender mounds, her eager nipples, her eyes growing wide, but not with fear this time—with the same hunger burning in me and making my pole stiff.
“I’m busy trying to make my secret Valentine texter understand I’m not who they want.”
Julian points his finger at me. From how it wobbles, he won’t win the ‘I’m not drunk’ argument anytime soon. “Listen, I can go along with it most of the time.”
“With what?”
He grinds his teeth. “With your you-don’t-give-a-damn act. But there have been many, many times, Alex. Maybe you were overworked, a little tipsy, or sleep-deprived when you made these admissions…”
“You’ve already forgotten what you were going to say,” I mumble.
He covers his mouth to hide a burp. “I haven’t.” He snaps his fingers. “You’ve told me many times you want something real. Well, this is your chance.”
“You’re being overdramatic.”
“You’re trying to hide how you really feel,” he snaps back.
Damn Julian and his perceptiveness.
I watch Tori across the busy bar. She furrows her eyebrows as she types, cute, interested. Who’s her Valentine? I want to find the jerk and tell him to back off even though I just said I’m not interested because clearly, that’s a lie when it comes to Tori.