Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“There’s your first mistake. There’s no such thing as a perfect man.”
“Why are you being so negative?”
He raked his hand through his locks of hair and shrugged. “I’m not being negative. I’m being realistic. He might say all the right things, but sometimes it’s not about what people say. It’s about how they look at you.”
“And how does he look at me?”
“Like you’re everyone else.”
“What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know. I’m just saying. You deserve someone who looks at you differently,” Kai grumbled.
“What if that doesn’t exist for me?”
“If what doesn’t exist for you?”
“Somebody who looks at me as if I’m…more than nothing. I write romance novels for a living, but I’m not stupid enough to believe that real men say the right things, and they will be head over heels for me.”
“Geez, Holly, don’t be so dramatic. Of course, that exists for you. Just not with this guy.”
“Then what guy?” I asked.
He stayed quiet.
I hated his silence.
I slid my purse strap on my shoulder and held it close. “You know? It was a mistake asking for your help. I don’t know why I thought you’d be kind. I don’t know why I thought we'd become friends over these past few weeks, but clearly, I was wrong.”
There it was again—that flash of sadness in his eyes.
What is it, Kai? What is going on with you tonight?
I waited for him to say something. To say anything. Anything that would explain why he was acting out the way he was. Anything to express why he was being so odd that evening.
As he parted his mouth to speak, I felt a pool of nerves hit my stomach. I waited for his words, his apology, to explain why he thought being so cruel to me was okay.
Instead, he said, “You’d be a complete idiot to sleep with that man when he doesn’t like you. Then again, it would be on par with your past choices in life.”
My jaw.
It dropped.
My heart.
It shattered.
“Screw you, Kai,” I shouted before storming out of the building.
I headed home in a frenzy, running into Mano in the apartment lobby. He was coming off the elevator and looking at me with concerned eyes.
“Holly, hey, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m fine,” I choked on my emotions. Then I shook my head and pushed out a smile to stop my tears. “I think your brother is having a bad day. You might want to check on him.” Because I still cared. I still cared about Kai’s feelings, hurts, and struggles, even if he made it clear he didn’t care about mine. Caring wasn’t like a faucet. I couldn’t just turn off my feelings for Kai because he said a few hurtful things.
Sometimes I wished our emotions were like faucets. Something we could turn on and off at our demand.
“What did he do?” Mano asked, alert. His nose flared as his anger began to build.
“Nothing. It’s fine. We just got into a little argument.”
“He hurt your feelings?”
I kept smiling, but the tears rolled down my cheeks as I shook my head. “My feelings will be okay.”
Mano went to comfort me, but I held up a hand and shook my head. I wiped my tears away and nodded once. “Go check on your brother, Mano. Make sure he’s okay.”
He did as I requested and headed out of the building.
Even though I didn’t want to think about him, my mind went to Kai for the remainder of the night. I wanted to hate him that evening, but my heart wouldn’t allow it. All I cared about was making sure he was all right.
KAI
“What the hell did you do?” Mano barked at me as he walked into the restaurant. He looked as if he was on the verge of snapping. I glanced around the restaurant at our customers, who were staring at him and his outburst. Without thought, I hurried over to him, grabbed him by the arm, and yanked him into the back office, shutting the door behind us.
“What do you think you’re doing barging in here like that? Are you crazy, Mano?” I scolded, confused by his random outburst.
“What do I think I’m doing? What are you doing?” he shot back.
“What are you talking about?”
“I just ran into Holly.”
Oh. Shit.
I could only imagine what she told him after our somewhat heated exchange. “Listen, what happened between Holly and me is none of your—”
“She was crying, Kai,” he cut in.
His words felt like a sucker punch to my gut. “What?”
“She was crying when I ran into her. You hurt her feelings, but do you know what she said? She said, please check on your brother to make sure Kai is okay. As you hurt her, she was still concerned about you.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and shut my eyes. “I might have been a bit harsher than I should’ve toward her.”