Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Maybe?
Oh my god. I let out a breath and bring the cup of coffee to my lips.
“I don’t recall exactly what happened,” Noah says and opens cabinets in search of a coffee cup. I can’t stop staring at his butt.
What is wrong with me?
“Neither do I. And that’s fine. Probably better that way. As far as I’m concerned, you took me home and crashed on the couch while you waited out the rain,” I say.
“Sounds good to me. And don’t go getting attached. I don’t do relationships.”
“You’re a pig.” I finish my coffee and feel sick. Ugh. I’m never drinking again. “And don’t worry. This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t gotten me drunk.”
“Like you could resist this,” Noah says, wiggling his eyebrows and shaking his hips. I look away. I’ve resisted that since I’ve known him, since I was fifteen years old, thinking he was the most gorgeous boy in the world. Over the years, the boy turned into man, and still held a spot in my mind as one of the best-looking males out there.
“I can. Easily. Now get dressed and get out. I have, uh, a lot to do today.”
“Yeah, me too.” He locates a mug and fills it with coffee, then sits back down. So much for leaving. “You’re not going to tell your brother, are you?”
I widen my eyes. “No! He would probably kill you.”
“Meh, he can try.”
I shake my head. It was one night. One night. One. Night. Noah will leave, soon hopefully, and this awkward moment will be over with and we can move on with our lives.
And I’ll never have to think about it again.
Chapter 6
LAUREN
Six weeks later…
I AM DRAGGING. Completely and totally dragging ass and no amount of coffee can wake me up today. I shouldn’t have stayed up past my bedtime reading, but I had to find out what happened to Edie Harker, the vampire hunter. Had to. And one more chapter led to finishing the damn book
I’m paying for it now.
Though, truth is I’ve been feeling run down for a week now. I’m not sick, don’t have a fever, yet something is … off.
“Late night?” Julie asks me sit down for lunch.
“Too late,” I say, and poke at the beans and rice that came with my tacos. There’s a little hole-in-the wall Mexican restaurant close to the clinic and is my go-to when I’m too lazy to pack a lunch. I get the same thing every time and love it, but today, Lunch Combination #12 isn’t appealing.
She laughs. “Don’t tell me you had another ‘one night stand’ with some mystery man again.”
I glare at her. “It’s possible, and it really did happen.”
She just laughs again. “Sure it did. Sweet little Lauren went home with someone she didn’t know, and never got a name.”
I purse my lips and shake my head. I hadn’t told a single soul—not even my best friend Rachel—about Noah. But I couldn’t keep the entire situation a secret. I can’t keep secrets to save my life. So my friends know I had naughty dirty sex with some hot guy I met at a bar. But that’s all I tell them, and really, that’s all I can tell them.
I assume the sex I had with Noah was naughty and dirty. And probably sloppy and wobbly; since I was too drunk to remember it, I was too drunk to do, well, anything remotely sexy. In all honestly, I probably got the rug burns on my knees from falling, and then I passed out under Noah as soon as we both finished.
“I live on the edge, duh,” I say with a smile and set my fork down, unable to eat anything in front of me, and drink my lemonade. I can’t get enough of that.
Soon enough, I’m busy rewrapping bandages, inserting an IV for the eleventh time into the leg of a beagle that somehow manages to pull it out as soon as our backs are turned, and prepping for surgeries.
Finally the day is over. I’m exhausted, and my back hurts from hoisting heavy dogs up and down the surgery table all day. I yawn the whole way home, stopping for takeout so I don’t have to cook.
“Sorry, guys,” I say to the dogs. “I’m too pooped to take you for a walk.”
Vader cocks his head at the word “walk,” and I feel guilty. It’s a nice night, with a clear sky and warm air. But I just can’t.
“You had plenty of play time today, and I have a short shift tomorrow. You’ll be fine for one night.” I pat my leg and head to the kitchen. “Come on, I’ll give you an extra treat, okay?”
If there a better word than “walk,” it’s “treat.” He trots ahead of me. Sasha follows, and I toss them both a handful of treats before getting myself a drink and falling onto the couch. I watch a re-run of Once Upon a Time while I eat.