Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Roxie bursts out laughing, then claps her hands. Gemmaline just smiles, shaking her head.
“That’s great,” Roxie says. “We need more, though. More punishment. We’ll brainstorm.”
I smile. When I saw Vaughn and Aubrey at the convention center, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever feel like smiling again. When I learned they were trying to steal my novel, I was sure I wouldn’t ever be happy again. But it’s good to have my friends back in town and helping me out. Dani and Maddie actually helped me with the posters. Maddie figured out what happened with Vaughn because she didn’t buy my story of us drifting apart. She stalked him on social media and found evidence of him and Aubrey going back to when we were dating and pieced it together on her own.
In addition to her sleuthing skills, my littlest sister is also a Photoshop wizard, and she even did a little magic to make Vaughn’s picture look creepier after she cut him out and plastered his face in front of the homeless shelter. She also added a pair of dirty white panties floating beside his head.
Was it a bit much? Definitely. But it felt like I had my whole tribe on my side. My friends and my sisters were helping me get through this.
And then there was Jameson. I keep thinking about last night. It wasn’t like any date I’ve ever been on. He cared about me. He listened to me. It wasn’t a dick measuring contest where I sat through him listing off a resume of his accomplishments.
On one hand, it was amazing. On the other hand, it made me realize I’ve either had the world’s worst luck with men before him or I’m a total failure at deciding who to date. I don’t know which one is more sad.
I grin, because Gemmaline is getting into the revenge plotting, too. She’s got a drawing app pulled up on her phone and she’s drawing some kind of diagram like a mad genius. She’s pointing to various objects and scribbling notes in the corners. At the top, she’s written “Charli’s Revenge” in big, bold lettering.
I have good friends.
12
JAMESON
Three days until the company mixer with Landmark. Three days until I get to see Charli again.
Sure, I could ask her to go on another date, but she strikes me as a flight risk. It’s like the turtle I befriended in my backyard as a kid. I had to come on slowly. I brought him lettuce every day. Most days, he just scurried back into the bushes. Whoever came up with the lie that turtles are slow has never met or tried to befriend a turtle. That turtle was fast as hell. My only hope of winning him over was to play it cool and win him over day by day.
Charli is like that turtle. Well, except for the obvious differences, like the fact that I had no intentions of getting anywhere near that turtle with my cock. If I want to win her over, I need to play my hand carefully. I’ve got to approach slowly, strategically. I’ve got to avoid sudden movements and loud noises, or she’ll dart off and I’ll be left knowing I missed out on an amazing opportunity to get her in my bed.
Deep down, I know I’m kidding myself. It’s not just the thought of having sex with Charli that I’m so distracted by. If it was only that, I wouldn’t be so scared of her getting away. I’ve let sexual attraction pass me by without bothering to even look up more times than I can count. Attraction is fleeting. It’s fun, but it’s not the sort of thing that will keep me up at night in cold sweats asking “what if”.
That’s the tricky thing with Charli. I want to believe I’m just lusting after her. It’s hard to convince myself it’s true because the thought of her leaving my life feels like a punch in the gut. It feels like a void threatening to open up inside me. Like I’d carry some fragment of that regret for the rest of my life. Is it pathetic to be so invested in a woman I’ve probably spent less than three or four hours with in total? No, and fuck you for asking.
It’s perfectly reasonable, because I keep replaying how good it feels to make her smile–to bring a little happiness back to her color-drained life. Besides, I’m not pretending I know she’s the one, or any of that high-minded crap. I’m only starting to think I would regret not trying to find out for the rest of my life.
See? Reasonable.
I realize I haven’t listened to a word of the meeting. Nolan is at the other end of the table in our main conference room at Gray Wolfe. He looks concerned as Jamie, one of our top level managers, is explaining something.