Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Pogo made an almost cat-like purring sound at the back of his throat. He was happy, and I had my drink and my brilliant plan.
The crisis, I was certain, had been averted.
3
WILLOW
Seven Weeks Later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWcASV2sey0
Except it hadn’t.
Turned out the meme going round was true: good boyfriends were not so easy to find. Hanging out in the trending bars had yielded nothing. Not that I hadn’t been hit on. I had, but they were mostly assholes looking for a quick hook-up.
And after my latest conversation with Olivia where I got the distinct impression that both my stepmother and Tiffany didn’t believe I’d actually found a man, I decided that my date for the wedding had to be above reproach. Handsome. Sexy. Successful. A man who would make Steven look like a wet-behind-the-ears boy.
But time was running out and I was starting to panic. I was not going to find such a legend, especially since there was hardly a week left before the wedding. Not that I was ready to give up the search, but I was starting to get more than a little despondent.
As I got ready for the company’s yearly party, the temptation to skip it and spend the time curled up on my couch was huge, but I squared my shoulders with determination. No, I needed to go out. Maybe what I really needed to do was get talking with some of my colleagues. Maybe they would know someone who could help.
“We need a new strategy, Pogo.” He was lazing on the bed, staring at me as I slipped into a black dress. “Clearly I’m not going to get a date through the conventional ways, so I must think outside the box.”
Pogo yawned.
I tried on several outfits, not quite achieving the look I wanted. The bed was a mess of discarded gear. Eventually, I turned to the red dress. It was too slutty for an office party, but what the hell.
I adjusted the long sleeves of the dress. They were the only respectable thing about it. Was it too sexy for an office party? There was a lot of leg on show.
I took a couple of steps towards the mirror. Nah, it was not too sexy, not really. Yes, the dress was short and it clung to me like a second skin, but I was in the big city now. Nobody cared about what anybody else was doing. Anyway, some of the girls at work came to work dressed as if they were going directly to a party afterwards.
If my stepmother could see me, she would definitely have said I looked like a whore. We were brought up to clutch pearls and show as little skin as possible, but I wasn’t living in Bison Ridge anymore. I was in the Big Apple, home of the daring and the brave.
My stepmother had no control over me anymore. I would never again let her shame me into behaving in a way that she approved of.
I applied a layer of cherry lip gloss, kissed Pogo, and left.
The party was a disastrous waste of time.
I knew very few people so I stood in a corner, clutching my fifth glass of bubbly, and pretended to admire the Christmas tree left over from the Christmas party as everyone else laughed, danced, and generally had a good time.
A familiar song blasted from the speakers, pulling me from my introspection. Draining my glass, I popped it onto a ledge, and began swaying to the beat. That was when I realized just how sloshed I had become. I decided to go to the restrooms and splash some cool water over my face.
I left the big hall, walked into the corridor and slammed into a brick wall, well it felt like one, but it had warm, strong hands that curled around my forearms and kept me upright.
Shaken, I lifted my eyes all the way up, and stared into the face of a hot, I mean, like magazine-cover hot man. He was easily the sexiest man I’d ever seen in my entire life, and that was even counting magazines and movies. God! His eyes, they were piercing blue.
They robbed me of all thoughts except one. This here, was exactly the kind of man I was looking for to take to the wedding, and fate had delivered me right into his hands.
“Whoa! What’s the hurry?” the utterly gorgeous beast drawled, his voice dripping with amusement.
REX
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=VX2U5UUU3DE
“Are you single?” she asked breathlessly, staring at me with a dazed expression.
“Guilty,” I admitted, stepping away from her warm curves, and watching her closely. I didn’t know what to make of her.
She had the obligatory long blonde hair that I usually went for in a woman, but she was not exactly my type. There was too much intelligence and warmth lurking in those enormous bottle green eyes. I preferred my women blonde and dumb… Still, something about her intrigued and fascinated me. Probably those fantastically long silky legs. I could already see myself opening them and tasting her. That was surprising in itself, since I couldn’t remember the last time I’d reacted so viscerally to a woman.