Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Laughing, she tucked her hair back behind one ear. “I’m truly sorry for what I said, and I shall never besmirch your jewels again.”
“Why’d you do that anyway?”
She picked up her glass again and took a dainty sip. “To get back at you for asking every girl to dance but me, of course.”
“What?” I snorted. “That’s ridiculous. You didn’t want to dance with me.”
“How do you know? You never asked.”
“Bianca, you brought a fucking book with you and read it the entire time.”
She clutched at her chest. “Twilight isn’t just a book to me, Enzo. It’s a whole world. I still reread it every year.”
“Twilight? Isn’t that about a teenage vampire?”
“At least that vampire was a gentleman.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. You refused to even talk to me, and I was bored, so I asked some other girls to dance. I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
“Well, it hurt my feelings,” she said, pointing her pert little nose at me. “I was already aware you didn’t want to be there—I knew your parents made you take me. And I felt horrible about it, so I copped the bad attitude to hide my humiliation.”
“Well, I didn’t know any of that, because you never said anything. But I’m . . . I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.”
“Your apology is accepted,” she said. “Now are you going to accept mine?”
“I guess,” I grumbled, taking another drink.
She lit up with a smile. “Thank you. So can we be friends now?”
“I suppose we can try,” I said, “although I still don’t understand why you were so stuck-up back then, always too good to talk to me.”
“I wasn’t stuck-up, Enzo, I was shy!” she exclaimed, like I should have known. “And you were always surrounded by girls batting their lashes and tossing their long blond hair and giggling like idiots at everything you said. Just because I wasn’t one of them doesn’t mean I thought I was too good for you. Frankly, I’m shocked you even remember me from back then. It’s not like you ever noticed when I was in the room, what with your ego taking up all the space around you.”
“Okay, maybe we should leave the past alone,” I said, remembering why I didn’t like her much. “Clearly, we are always going to disagree.”
“Fine with me.” She pulled the pick from her martini and ate one of the olives from it. “So how’s your ego tonight? A little bruised, huh?”
“It’s fine,” I said, tightening the knot in my tie. “Reina obviously wasn’t the right choice for a wife. I’m glad she said no.”
Bianca started to choke on her olive. “Wait a minute.” She fanned her face and managed to swallow. “You proposed to—to—what was the little girl’s name?”
“Reina. And you’ve got no room to call someone little, Tiny.”
As I’d hoped, the old nickname drew a brief scowl from her. “We’re talking about you right now. Did you actually propose tonight? Like with a ring?”
I exhaled, regretting I’d mentioned it. “Yeah. I did.”
Her eyes lit up. “Let me see it.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you just want to rub salt in my wound.”
“For fuck’s sake, Enzo. You’re not wounded. You don’t even love this girl, you just needed to put a ring on her finger so your dad would put your name on the company letterhead.” She held out her hand. “Now give it here.”
Something told me I was going to be sorry, but I reached into my jacket and pulled out the ring box.
She took it from me and opened it up. “It’s pretty,” she said with grudging admiration. Then she squinted at it, pushing her glasses up her nose. “Did you have it engraved?”
I picked up my bourbon and took a hefty swallow. “No.”
“But it says . . .” She set the box down and pulled the ring from the velvet to examine it closer. Then she started laughing. “‘Love Always, Ricky?’”
“Give me that.” Leaning forward, I tried to swipe the ring from her hand, but she held it out of my reach.
“Just a second! I want to try it on.”
I thumped against the back of the booth, picking up my drink again and tossing back the rest of it. Could this night get any worse?
Bianca slipped the ring on her finger—it fit—and held out her hand, studying it. “So what did you say?”
“I proposed.”
“But how? Like, did you say, ‘You’re the love of my life and I want to be with you forever’ kind of thing?”
“Uh, not exactly. I didn’t want to lie to her. I just, you know, gave her the ring.” I made a grand, sweeping gesture with one hand.
“But you must have said something.”
“What difference does it make?” I asked irritably.
“Look, I’m only trying to help you. You obviously blew it tonight, and by your own admission, you need to find a Lucy for your Ricky sooner rather than later, right?”