Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“True.” Mia nodded down to the end of the table to the woman sitting across from Christian. “Callie, my soon-to-be sister-in-law—the blonde on my side—sleeps with a teddy bear.” She lifted her chin to the table across from us where her dad and his wife were sitting with Christian’s parents. “My stepmother, Elaine, has a stack of love letters from an old boyfriend she keeps hidden in the attic.”
Grant raised his brows. “You seem to have something on everyone.”
Mia continued around the room, telling funny secrets about almost everyone. When she seemed to be done, Grant looked at me, while speaking to her.
“You forgot someone.”
Mia bit her lip, like she was considering her options, and leaned over to Grant. “She has porn inside the old Disney DVDs in the living room cabinet. She thinks I don’t know about it.”
“Mia!” My eyes went wide, and I felt my face start to blush. I hadn’t realized she knew about that. But the three of us laughed. Of course, the pastor picked that moment to walk over. He put his hand on Mia’s shoulder and smiled.
“I’m sorry to interrupt. You three look like you’re having a good time. I just wanted to say goodnight to the bride-to-be.”
Mia told the pastor she’d walk him out, and after he started to walk away, she leaned back to us and whispered, “I’ll be back with his secret in ten minutes.”
Grant chuckled. “I like your friend.”
“She’s crazy, but I’m definitely going to miss her. I’ve actually never lived alone. I went from my parents’ house, to my aunt’s, to a roommate at college, and then to sharing an apartment with Mia.”
“Will you get another roommate?”
“I had an ad on Craigslist. I’ve narrowed it down to two men.”
“Men?”
“Yes. Jacque is a French underwear model living in the States for a year, and Marco is a fireman.”
The look on Grant’s face was so serious, I couldn’t keep it going any longer. I started to crack up. “I’m teasing. You should see your face, though.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Very cute.”
“I’m actually really excited to live on my own. I told you I’m building a house. It’s not much, but I love the area. It’s a new development. The whole community is built around a big, beautiful lake—though my plot isn’t lakefront because those parcels were almost four times the price. But I love how woodsy they’re keeping it and how far apart the houses are going to be. It feels like a serene vacation place. When I first bought the land, I had an architect do the blueprints for my dream house. Then I had some estimates done on building it, and I realized I’d dreamed too big and needed to scale back. So it’s much smaller now, but I can’t wait until it’s done. It’s about sixty percent there.”
He smiled. “That’s great. I’d love to see it.”
“I like to drive over to the property every once in a while and check it out. Maybe next time you can take the ride with me, and I’ll show you the lake and give you a tour of my half-built house.”
“I’d like that.”
***
Two hours later, Grant drove me home and parked in front of my apartment building.
“Thank you for coming with me,” I told him. “I know it wasn’t an ideal date, but I enjoyed it anyway.”
“I did, too.”
I definitely wasn’t ready for him to leave. “Do you want to come in?”
Grant looked me in the eyes. “You have no idea how much I do.”
I smiled, but as we got out of the car and made our way up the elevator, I became extremely anxious. When I went to put the key in the lock, Grant noticed my hand shaking.
“Are you cold?”
I shook my head. “Nervous, I guess. I’m just…I’m really attracted to you, and I like you, but I’m not ready to…have you spend the night. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea because I invited you in.”
Grant turned me around and put two fingers under my chin, lifting so I looked him in the eyes. “The choice is always yours. We can take it as slow as you want.”
My shoulders relaxed, and I exhaled. “Thank you.”
I felt much calmer after that. Inside, I went to my room to change and left Grant opening a bottle of wine. When I came back out, he was standing in the living room with a glass of wine in one hand and Beauty and the Beast in the other.
He arched a brow. “She wasn’t joking.”
I felt the heat on my face and snatched the box from his hand. “I went through a dry spell. Don’t tell me you’ve never watched porn.”
He grinned. “Of course I have. I just don’t store mine in Disney DVDs.”
I laughed, took the wine out of his hand, and guzzled half of it in one gulp. As long as we were on the subject, I figured I might as well see what types of things he liked to watch. Lord knows, I’d found I had a bit of a fetish. “Is your collection specific to any type of porn?”