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)
“Very funny,” she says. She does look worse for wear, bleary-eyed and pale with smudges of old makeup under her eyes. Doesn’t help that I think she’s in her pajamas.
“Oh, it’s nothing to do with being British,” Naomi says and I look across the table at her. She doesn’t look as bad as Jane and if I’m not mistaken, there might even be a bit of a twinkle in her eyes.
I squint at her and smile and have a feeling we’re both on the same page right now. As in, we both got lucky last night.
“Where’s Marina?” she asks and now I know for sure she’s onto us.
“She’s coming,” I tell her with a smirk.
“I bet she is,” Naomi says, taking a bite of her eggs.
We’re in a diner around the corner from the hotel. Jane and Naomi already got a head start on brunch, which is fine because Marina and I had room service earlier. Followed by more sex.
Followed by more sex.
And suddenly I’m hungry again.
“What is she doing?” Jane asks. “She is coming, right? I feel bad I didn’t get to see her as much as I should have.”
“Well then come down for Christmas this year. Bring your boyfriend. I’m sure your dad would love to meet him.”
She scoffs and gives me the death look which is further exaggerated by the fact she kind of looks like death. “Yeah, right. Getting out of that house, leaving LA, that was the best thing I’ve ever done.”
“Well you could always come visit me, you know.”
“And me,” Naomi pipes up.
“And me,” Marina says, standing at the end of the table. Naomi looks up at her and scooches over on the bench so she can sit down. “By the way, what are we talking about?”
She’s smiling, big, all teeth, all joy, looking around the table and pausing at me when she catches my eye. I can’t help but smile back.
Naomi clears her throat. “We were talking about Jane coming to visit all of us for Christmas and bringing her boyfriend.”
“And it’s a maybe,” Jane says. “Where were you?”
“Me?” Marina points to herself. She blushes. “Oh, I was just doing my makeup. Had to really cake this shit on to cover up my hangover.”
“You weren’t even drunk last night,” Jane says.
Marina shrugs, a tiny smile on her lips. “Still felt like ass this morning. Must have been the champagne.”
I stare at Marina’s neck. The reason she was late was because she had to whack on a lot of concealer to cover up the hickeys and marks I left on her neck. So in a way, she wasn’t lying.
“Oh, you feel like ass do you?” Naomi says, looking her up and down. “I don’t. Only Jane does. Wonder why.”
Jane frowns and then winces, as if the action hurt her brain. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Nothing much,” Naomi says. “Except you’re the only one who didn’t get laid last night.”
Marina stiffens. I laugh. Jane rolls her eyes.
“Oh, of course,” she says. “I should have figured something happened with you two.” She gestures to us with a dismissive wave of her hand before she sips her coffee.
“You’re not mad?” I ask. Not that it would matter but since Naomi gave me a lecture last night and threatened to cut my dick off, I thought Jane would lurch into overprotective friend mode as well.
“Mad?” she repeats. “I’m too hungover to be mad. No, listen. This needed to happen and I’m glad it finally did. If Marina had to lose her virginity to someone, I’m glad it was my stepbrother.” She pauses. “That still sounds so weird.”
“I’m glad it only sounds weird,” I tell her.
She looks across at Marina and grins. “I guess it’s my fault for giving you that condom.”
“What?” I ask. “Condom?”
Jane gave Marina a condom?
“I wanted her to be prepared. I’m not sure if you guys were trying to hide your attraction to each other over these years, but it was pretty obvious last night what was going to happen. Glad you got it over with.”
Not the best term to use.
“We got nothing over with, Jane. Don’t be snide.”
“I’m not being snide,” she says, mimicking my accent. “You know what I mean.” She looks at Naomi. “Let’s talk about the guy you screwed last night then since you didn’t come back into the room until five this morning.”
I’m grateful for the attention to go to Naomi now and enjoy the fact that we’re all looking at her like a bug under a microscope, but Jane’s comment has me bothered. As much as I’ve wanted Marina, as much as I’ve dreamed about finally being inside of her, feeling her from the inside, I didn’t get anything over with.
But, fuck. What if she did?
I look across at Marina. Even though Jane is badgering Naomi about her hook-up, Marina is watching me, her expression tentative.