Total pages in book: 214
Estimated words: 202638 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1013(@200wpm)___ 811(@250wpm)___ 675(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 202638 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1013(@200wpm)___ 811(@250wpm)___ 675(@300wpm)
I hear him before I see him. I turn and watch as he flies out the foyer of Lusso, looking like the Devil himself. I clench my lips shut to suppress my laugh. He looks homicidal. He tears towards me, barefoot and gloriously naked, except for his fine, tight boxer shorts. I stay where I am. I knew I wouldn’t be going out in this dress, whether he caught me here or at the bar, I was always going to be hauled home in disgrace and dressed in something more suitable by Jesse’s standards.
He grabs me and flings me up onto his shoulder, reaching up to hold the hem of my dress down before taking me straight back into Lusso. ‘It’s just my fucking luck that I go and fall crazy in love with most impossible woman in the fucking world. Evening, Clive.’
‘Mr Ward,’ Clive nods without paying much attention to us. ‘Hello, Ava.’
‘Hi Clive!’ I sing through my laughter. Jesse gets in the elevator and punches the code in while muttering under his breath.
‘Have you still not got that code changed?’ I smooth my palm down his back and into the seam of his boxers, giving him a little squeeze.
‘Shut up, Ava.’ he spits.
‘Are we friends?’
‘No!’ he slaps my arse hard and I yelp. ‘Don’t fuck with me, beautiful girl. You should know by now, I always win.’
‘I know. I love you.’
‘I love you too, but you’re a fucking pain in the arse.’
We pull up outside Kate’s super late after I gained Jesse’s approval on a blush Ponte dress and matching heels, but I very nearly got handcuffed to the bed again when he saw my engagement ring on the bedside table. I completely forgot about it, but Jesse made sure it made it onto my finger. I managed to convince him to leave the necklace in the safe, though. I’m not comfortable with this dirty great big rock sat on my finger as it is. The necklace added to the equation will tip me over the edge of nervousness.
Kate comes barreling out of her house and Jesse gets out, letting her in the back of the car. ‘Wow! I like this better than the Porsche.’ she says as she gets comfortable in the back. ‘Don’t tell Samuel I said that. Come on then, let’s have a look.’
‘What?’ I shift in my seat so I can see my fiery friend.
She freezes and throws the back of Jesse’s head a fearful look. ‘Oh shit!’
‘It’s fine.’ Jesse assures her.
I gape at him. ‘She knew?’
‘I needed one of your rings to make sure the size was right.’ He shrugs and keeps his attention on the road. I hear Kate sigh in relief.
‘You knew?’ I fire at her accusingly.
‘Yep. Was it romantic? Show me.’ She gestures for me to pass her my hand.
I actually laugh – really hard. Jesse looks at me out the corner of his eye, his lips pressed into a straight line as he weaves in and out of the traffic. ‘Yeah, it was romantic.’ I snort. If you call handcuffs and being forced to swallow romantic. I thrust my hand at her.
‘Fucking hell!’ She grabs my hand with both of hers and gets up close and personal with the diamond. ‘That is some serious special. So, when’s the wedding?’ She drops my hand and fishes around in her bag, pulling out her compact mirror. ‘Shit, Ava. Have you told your Mum and Dad?’
Kate has just innocently hit on two very sore subjects. We will be discussing the date of the wedding like grownups soon, and as for my parents? Well, I’m still stumped there. ‘Don’t know and no.’ I answer.
Jesse shifts in his seat and flicks me a displeased stare. I ignore it. I’m not getting into this now. I turn back around in my seat to face Kate. ‘Did you enjoy your evening?’ I ask sweetly.
‘Yes it was fab.’ She brushes my question off and keeps her eyes in her mirror.
‘What time did you wrap up?’ I push.
‘I can’t remember.’ She pouts in the mirror and then flicks her big blues to me. ‘Is there a point to this line of enquiry?’
Jesse laughs a little. ‘I think Ava would like to know if you enjoyed yourself upstairs after I took her home.’ he clarifies. I gawk at him, and he flicks a raised brow at me. Do I need to blunt up?
Kate slaps him on the shoulder. ‘That, my friend, is none of your business. Well, it is, but it isn’t.’ She laughs and once again, I’m stunned. I turn around and shake my head in dismay. I’m surrounded by crazy people.
Jesse pulls up outside Baroque and gets out to free Kate from the back.
‘I’ll get the drinks!’ she declares as she dances into the bar.
Jesse waits for me to come around to the pavement. He’s brooding again and it doesn’t escape my notice that he has just given the doorman a nod.