Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 111165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
I open my eyes and his face is still at my neck, lips at my ear. “I had no idea you were so easy to please,” he murmurs and I swear his lips are grazing my skin. Goosebumps spread and I’m hot and cold all at once.
My throat feels thick as I speak. “Only when it comes to drinks. Anything else, you might have to work at it.”
“Is that so?” he says, pulling back enough to look me in the eye.
There’s fire inside him. God, how I want to burn.
“We’ll have to see, won’t we?” I tell him.
His languid gaze drops to my lips, his nostrils flaring with impatience.
Fuck, do it, just fucking kiss me.
Kiss me.
Kiss me.
He leans all the way back, gives my hand another squeeze before letting go. “Don’t you dare go anywhere.”
“Bossy,” I comment, my stomach summersaulting like crazy.
“You have no idea,” he says. Then he winks, a bit of a smile, and heads down to the bar to place the order.
I watch him. I watch him and I watch the girls in the bar watching him and I know tonight, tonight he’s mine. I have him.
I’ve never felt so alive before, a swarm of electricity underneath my skin, my heart happy, happy, happy with anticipation.
“Hey,” Jane says appearing at my side. She’s drunk but she’s pretty good at handling herself. I probably should be more drunk than I am but I’m just so excited that I’ve been taking it really slow.
“Hey. Where’s Naomi?”
“She’s talking to some guy over there.” She points into the crowd.
“That was fast.”
“I think she’s looking for her rebound tonight. I don’t blame her.”
“Me neither. Good for her. She needs to get laid.”
“She’s not the only one,” Jane says dryly. I glance at her and she’s reaching down into her purse. She pulls out a condom and puts it in the back pocket of my purse.
“What is that for?”
“For you,” she says. “In case you lose your V-card to my stepbrother tonight. Dude, I never thought I would say that phrase.”
“What are you talking about?”
Play dumb, play dumb, she’s on to you.
Jane crosses her arms. “Naomi told me about your fake dating thing.”
“Oh.”
“How is that going by the way?”
I give a faint shrug. “It’s been fun. I learned a lot about myself.”
“Like you’d rather date my brother than anyone else?”
“Jane. I’m not dating Laz.”
“I know but you’d like to.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Good grief. Marina, you were giving him the come hither eyes from day one.”
I sigh and look away. Laz is still down at the bar, trying to get the bartender’s attention.
“I don’t care, okay?” she goes on. “Seriously. You’re a grown woman and you know what you’re doing.”
I meet her eyes hesitantly. “What am I doing?”
“You like him. You more than like him. You’re in love with him.”
I scoff, though the words flame inside me.
I love him.
The feeling leaves me breathless.
I attempt to protest. “You can’t base that on what you’ve seen today.”
Because if she is, then that means I’ve been acting like a lovesick fool.
“I’m not. Naomi agrees with me.”
“Naomi is completely against this. Or whatever she thinks this is.”
“Because she hates men right now. Just let her be. She’s worried too. I was as well, but now I see the way Laz looks at you and I’m not going to stand in your way.”
I perk up. “What way does he look at me?”
“You know that scene in Pride and Prejudice?”
“The one we’ve watched over and over?” Back in college, Jane and I would literally watch that movie, the one with Keira Knightly, every Friday night and swoon and cry and wonder when we’d find our Mr. DArcy.
“Yes. By the lake. The way that he looks at her, like he’s bewitched, body and soul, that’s how Laz looks at you. And I know my brother has a terrible reputation when it comes to women and relationships but I honestly believe he has found something in you that he hasn’t been able to find with anyone else. You get a side of him that no one else does.”
I shake my head. “No,” I say quietly. “He still keeps that from me.”
“Give him time,” she says. “He’ll let you in.”
“How can you be so sure? What if…what if we end up being together and we break up. What if he pulls the same shit with me that he pulls with everyone else? I mean, I don’t even know why he does it, we never even got that far in our little dating game experiment before it…evolved. I know what’s wrong with me but…”
“Dude, there’s something wrong with everyone. Lazarus isn’t so special. People are fucked up and complicated and sometimes it’s just a matter of finding someone else as fucked up and complicated as you. Sometimes that’s all you need for love to work.” She takes a step back from me and makes the motion of dropping something. “Boom! Mic drop. Jane out.”