Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 103124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
I reach up and accept his hand. “Too easy, huh?”
While he’s distracted, I kick him behind the knees, and he drops to the floor beside me.
“What about now?” I ask smugly.
He looks up at me from the mat, and his handsome face breaks into a bright smile. Green eyes twinkle. It’s no surprise all the girls in New York are in love with him. All the girls except me, of course. He’s one of my best friends, and my feelings for him are too brotherly to be anything else. We kissed once, back in the early days, but there was no spark, and it weirded us both out. I wasn’t surprised when he came out two years later.
Besides being one of my best friends, Ari is also my Krav Maga coach. We’ve been sparring for years and are both fiercely competitive. Although this is the first time we’ve seen each other in eight months because I’ve been living in London for work.
I’m an art curator for the prestigious Ulvaeus Art Gallery in London.
But whenever I return to town, we always catch up with a little skirmish on the mats, usually followed by cocktails at one of our favorite bars.
Climbing to my feet, I help him to his.
“I don’t think I can teach you anymore,” he says.
“I know. I just like kicking your ass.” I wink at him, and he grins.
“Hey, I’m meeting Imogen for a drink. Wanna join us?”
He pulls a face. “Only two women in the world scare me, Bella. My grandmother and Imogen. She looks at me like I’m her next meal.”
“So I’ll take that as a no?”
“I’ve got to study but I’ll take a raincheck.
Ari is studying to become a lawyer.
“Chicken,” I tease.
“One hundred percent.” He grins and presses a kiss to my cheek. “But call me before you leave town and we’ll catch up for a drink then, I promise.”
“Okay, I will.”
After showering, I meet my slightly crazy but lovable girlfriend at a hot new bar on the Lower East Side called Inkwood.
I’ve known Imogen since I was fresh off the plane from Italy and shoved into an exclusive boarding school for the rich brats of New York’s social elite. She took me under her wing and made my new life bearable.
She screams the moment I step out of the cab and onto the busy New York street and throws her arms around my neck.
We hug, and she squeezes me tight. “Please don’t ever leave me again. This town is such a bore without my partner in crime.”
I grimace because I’m about to break her heart. “Yeah, about that. I’m only here for a few days. I have to head back to London after dad’s dinner party.”
I’m back in town for my father’s birthday which is tomorrow night. It’s one of his rules—wherever we are in the world, we always find a way to spend our birthdays together.
Imogen pouts. “I thought you were permanently relocating back to the New York office?”
“I got a promotion. I only found out yesterday.”
I don’t add that the promotion was something I’d been praying night and day for because I’ve fallen I love with my life in London. I’ve created a whole new life doing what I love, away from the constant glare of the media and my father’s solemn bodyguards.
The downside of living there is not seeing my best friend whenever I want to. Even our frequent texts have become less and less lately because life is so full and busy, and it feels like months since we’ve caught up.
She sighs. “You’ve been away far too long. I might have to move to London to get my weekly fix of you.”
“You live in London? You’d die the moment you left NYC airspace.”
“I know, but I miss you. And now you’re extending your stay abroad. What am I going to do without my best friend?”
“The promotion is too good to turn down. Besides, I’ll be back for all the important things.”
“You’re breaking my heart,” Imogen says with a heavy bottom lip.
“I know, but I’ll be flying back a lot. It’ll be like I still live around the corner.”
“That corner is the size of the Atlantic Ocean.” She pulls another sad face but then sighs. “Well, I’d better make the most of you while I have you.”
She loops her arm through mine, and we enter the club. After ordering our cocktails, we find a booth along the back wall. It’s twilight, and the bar is filling up with people looking to end their Wednesday with decadent after-work cocktails.
“How was your Krav Maga class?” she asks over her margarita.
“Good.”
“And Ari?”
I grin at her. “You know he’s gay, right?”
She shrugs and takes a sip of her drink. “A girl needs her dreams. Harry Styles is a traveling rock star with a legion of fans and would never glance sideways at a girl like me, but that doesn’t stop a girl from fantasizing.”