Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 87856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
I nod.
"It's the same at Berkeley. A lot of guys are cool. But there are so many blowhards who want to lecture you on philosophy. They think they're experts after a single class." She shakes her head and her wavy blond locks fall over her face.
"She likes them cute and dumb." Her boyfriend Holden sits next to her and pulls her into his lap. "Right?"
She nods.
He pulls her closer.
She blushes, shy, but she still leans into the gesture.
Their kiss isn't full-on PDA, but there's heat in it.
Oliver sticks his tongue out. "Gross."
"Why are you watching them?" Patrick asks.
Oliver just shakes his head I will not watch my sister make out and he turns to me. "So it's the same with you and Tricky?"
"Why do you think any of the women here showed?" Patrick asks. "For our brilliant minds?" He flexes a bicep.
"That's Dare's move," Oliver says.
"It still works," Patrick says.
"Eh. He's got better biceps," Oliver says.
"That's the first nice thing you've ever said about him," Patrick says.
"I say lots of nice things. I'm the nicest guy in the world." Oliver laughs.
Patrick shakes his head and turns to me. "Are you following this bullshit at all?"
"It sounds healthy, that Oliver isn't jealous of his girlfriend's guy friends," I say.
Oliver actually smiles. "Healthy. That's a new label."
Patrick chuckles. "Yeah, I think that's the first time anyone has called him well-adjusted."
Right. He had a drinking problem. Has a drinking problem.
Luna climbs out of the pool, shifts out of her shorts, sits on her boyfriend's lap even though she's soaking wet. "Hey."
"Hey, yourself," he says.
"You looked lonely," she says.
"Felt lonely." He pulls her into a kiss.
And, bam, they're making out.
Holden rolls his eyes. He and Daisy are no longer making out, but they're sitting together in an extremely cute, loving way.
Patrick shakes his head. "This is revenge. For… well, you know." He winks at me.
For the time he called while he was at work. Was she there? Did she hear? My cheeks flush.
"You do look hot," he says.
My cheeks flush. "Thanks."
He pulls me into another hug and whispers in my ear, "You good otherwise?"
"Really good," I whisper back. "Nice morning, easy lesson, party with my favorite tattoo artist."
"That's my designation?" he asks.
"My favorite sexual partner?"
He laughs. "I'll take that." He pulls me into a soft, slow kiss.
It feels good. Too good. I'm already dizzy.
"You hungry?" he asks.
"Not yet," I say.
"Thirsty?"
I nod.
"Dare," he calls to his friend, who's still lounging in the pool. "You want to get the gin? Help your friend finish changing?" There's intent in his voice. He's suggesting something. I guess that Dare likes his friend.
"She doesn't need help," he says. "Get real."
"The gin then?" Patrick asks. "I don't want to walk in on her."
But that's not a concern. The door in front of us opens, and a woman steps out in a white string bikini, a beach towel draped over her arm.
Dare's eyes nearly pop out of his head.
I can't blame him. She's a total knockout. Curvy, gorgeous, chic.
"Hey." She waves to us. "Good turnout."
"Can you grab the gin?" Tricky asks.
"Sure." She turns and steps through the door.
"Did you like staring coming or going better?" Patrick asks Dare.
"Fuck off." Dare pushes out of the pool and rushes to his apartment.
"He does like her," I say.
"Yeah, he always has, but now that she's…" He glances at Luna, makes sure she's making out with her boyfriend, not listening. "She's really hot."
"She wasn't before?" I ask.
"Not in the conventional ways," he says. "And it's not just the curves or the haircut. It's the way she carries herself too."
"Are they old friends?" I ask.
He nods.
"So he always saw her as a girl, a kid, and now she's obviously a woman?" I ask.
"Exactly. But he's in denial. He's so fucked. He's going back to Spain with her for a few weeks." Patrick shakes his head. "He thinks he'll crash on her couch, no problem."
"She's still in Spain?" I ask.
"For the summer. Internship, I guess," he says.
"So he's gonna fuck himself three times a day and do what with the other twenty-three hours and forty-five minutes?" Oliver asks.
"When did you stop making out?" Patrick asks.
Oliver pulls his girlfriend closer. "She heard you."
"Are you a fucking bat?" Patrick asks.
"No. I'm Daredevil," she says.
"So you can hear his board shorts getting tight?" Oliver asks.
Patrick laughs. "You set yourself up for that one."
"You think your lame sex jokes bother me?" Luna asks. "I can be even more perverted than either of you."
Oliver and Patrick trade a look that says no way.
Luna shakes her head. "But you are going to scare off Patrick's new girlfriend. At least ease her into your perversions."
"I thought you were the super freak?" Patrick asks.
"I don't brag about it twenty-four seven," she says.
"And yet, you interrupted us mocking Dare to mention your kinky thoughts," Patrick says.
Ollie laughs and whispers in her ear.